Blockchain trade finance platform Contour snaps up we.trade assets

Blockchain-based trade finance platform Contour is set to acquire the rulebook and other legal documents from recently shuttered fintech we.trade.

We.trade closed its doors earlier this year

Financial details of the deal remain undisclosed.

The move forms part of plans to launch a digital open account trade finance offering, folding we.trade’s bank payment undertaking (BPU) digital finance tool into the new platform.

The firm says the inclusion of we.trade’s rulebook, which covers the use of smart contract data sets that allow banks to enter into BPUs, means Contour will be able to “accelerate plans to bring to market an improved, Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT)-compliant digital open account proposition”.

We.trade shut down its operations earlier this year. The venture – “the world’s first enterprise-grade blockchain-enabled trade finance platform” – was set up in 2017 by 12 banks, who are shareholders. These include CaixaBank, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group, HSBC, KBC, Nordea, Rabobank, Santander, Societe Generale, UBS and UniCredit. It was commercially launched in 2019.

Based on Hyperledger, we.trade’s offer was to connect small and medium businesses (SMBs) to banks by streamlining traditionally paper-based transaction tasks such as letters of credit and the financing for cross-border and international trade.

Co-created in Singapore in 2018, Contour is backed by eight banks including ING, HSBC, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered and bids to digitise and modernise the trade finance sector.