Crédit Agricole CIB Launches Supply Chain Finance Platform

Crédit Agricole CIB launched a new receivables and supply chain finance platform in the Asia-Pacific region.

The bank’s new Optim Receivables and Supply Chain Finance platform is powered by Demica’s white-label, cloud-based platform that helps financial institutions and corporates offer working capital solutions, the companies said in a Tuesday (Feb. 27) press release.

“We are excited about this new partnership with Demica,” Laurent Proutière, head of international trade and transaction banking in Asia-Pacific at Crédit Agricole CIB, said in the release. “It is consistent with our strategy to leverage the FinTech ecosystem to develop our value proposition and will be instrumental to continue supporting our clients unlocking working capital tied up in their supply chain across the region.”

Via the new offering, Crédit Agricole CIB’s clients in the Asia-Pacific region will be able to use the digital platform to access financing of invoices in a variety of currencies and in large volume, according to the release.

Demica’s platform offers a range of supply chain finance products to banks, which can tailor the solution to the needs of their customers, the release said.

The direct interfaces between Demica’s platform and Crédit Agricole CIB’s back-office systems were implemented in less than a year, per the release. They include interest and foreign exchange rates, a payment interface and funding reports.

“We are now looking forward to expanding the partnership into other products and regions,” Maurice Benisty, chief commercial officer at Demica, said in the release.

In another development in the space, FinTech platform Xalts said Feb. 20 that it acquired Contour Network from a consortium of global banks, aiming to accelerate digitization in trade and supply chain finance.

The acquisition will combine Xalts’ expertise in digital finance applications with Contour’s established network connecting global banks to businesses.

In October, supply chain FinTech company Twinco Capital secured an additional 50 million euros (about $53 million) facility with banking unit BBVA Spark to help small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in emerging countries access trade finance.

Twinco engages with large corporations, primarily in the retail and apparel sectors, and offers funding to their suppliers worldwide.

For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.