Singapore’s DBS Bank is set to launch five new digital trade platforms this year, providing a potential supply chain boost for upwards of 15,000 small and medium businesses across Asia.
The platforms will have integrated digital and supply chain financing capabilities, providing support for a range of businesses, most notably e-commerce, logistics and commodities companies, based across Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India and Indonesia.
One business praised the platform for enabling rapid financing to suppliers while also easing the digital onboarding process, helping to “smooth out” trade disruptions.
DBS cited its existing partnerships “with large and established anchors” (i.e. companies) in multiple sectors, including technology, media and telecom, apparels, consumer products, food and agriculture, automotive and logistics, noting that its digital trade platform offers “competitive digital financing options to their network of suppliers and/or distributors”.
Last year, DBS onboarded 45 new anchors and more than 5,000 suppliers and distributors onto its digital platforms.
In launching the platforms, the Singapore-based bank recognised an environment of “increasing global trade disruptions and accelerated demand for digital services to strengthen supply chains”.
A recent DBS Digital Readiness Survey revealed that 97 per cent of businesses in Asia-Pacific have faced external pressure to transform digitally, citing growing supply chain complexities as one of the push factors for change.
“To help relieve some of this burden, we continue to leverage our extensive suite of digital solutions to deliver integrated financing solutions that can help businesses overcome challenges and further fortify their business resilience,” said Raof Latiff, group head of ecosystems at DBS.
The five new platforms add to the 12 digital platform partnerships, equipped with integrated digital financing and payments capabilities, launched by DBS since 2017.
DBS notes that more than nine out of 10 of the bank’s supply chain finance transactions across Asia were carried out through digital platforms last year.
“These efforts translated to DBS registering robust growth in revenue from trade ecosystems which doubled year-on-year in 2021,” the bank said.