The ICC Banking Commission conducted its final meeting of 2024 virtually via Teams on 20-21 November. Four separate portions of the event open to Banking Commission members and ICC National Committee representatives took place.
The Trade Finance Registry (TFR), an initiative undertaken by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) to combat duplicate financing fraud, will be developed by financial technology solutions provider MonetaGo.
According to a 15 June 2022 press release announcing MonetaGo’s selection as ABS’s chosen vendor to deliver the solution, the TFR will function as a secure database for records of trade transactions financed by Singapore-based banking institutions. It will be designed to connect to trusted sources of information for validation checks on trade data. The TFR will aim to mitigate the risk of duplicate financing by more than bank lender for the same trade transaction and reduce the falsification of borrower-supplied information. The effect shall be greater confidence among banks in the integrity of their clients and trade financing transactions.
“The MonetaGo-built TFR will significantly improve efficiencies in trade finance in Singapore, mitigating the risk of double financing, and ensuring confidence can be upheld globally in trade fraud mitigation”, said MonetaGo Founder and CEO Jesse Chenard.
Ong Ai Boon, Director of ABS, provided further background on the Association’s motivation for creation of the TFR and ABS’s choice of MonetaGo: “The ABS is committed to upholding the integrity of and confidence in Singapore’s trade finance sector, and the TFR provides a very important layer of security to prevent multiple financing on the same trade transactions with multiple banks. This leads to greater trust among both financiers and borrowers. We are pleased to have selected MonetaGo to develop the TFR, taking advantage of their experience in this niche area and the use of their global hash registry to detect fraud across national borders. TFR will be handed over to ABS and its appointed operator after go-live.”
The targeted rollout of the TFR is projected for year-end 2022.
