Bank of America announced that it is joining the Marco Polo Network, the largest and fastest growing trade finance networks leveraging Corda distributed ledger technology to provide transformative solutions to global trade participants.

Bank of America is a long standing provider of trade and supply chain finance solutions, with offices spanning Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and North America. It is also a leader in digital banking and regularly introduces innovations that leverage the bank’s annual $3bn new technology initiative fund. This year, the bank was named North America’s Best Digital Bank by Euromoney for the second consecutive year.

The Marco Polo Network operates on the first distributed trade finance platform powered by blockchain technology. It offers its members access to innovative risk mitigations solutions such as receivables discounting, payment commitment and payables finance programs. The initiative aims at making trade finance more transparent, smarter and better connected and is championed by new technology providers TradeIX and R3.

Other members of the Marco Polo Network include BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, ING, LBBW, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Natixis, Bangkok Bank, SMBC, Danske Bank, NatWest, DNB, OP Financial Group, Alfa-Bank, Bradesco, BayernLB, Helaba, S-Servicepartner, Raiffeisen Bank International, Standard Bank, Credit Agricole and National Bank of Fujairah.

Geoff Brady, Head of Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance in Global Transaction Services at Bank of America: “Joining the Marco Polo Network supports our strategic objective of turning technology advances into trade solutions that address client needs. We look forward to exploring how the new technology can generate greater transparency for our clients throughout the transaction lifecycle, making traditionally paper-based, opaque processes easier and more efficient.”

Daniel Cotti, Managing Director, CoE, Banking & Trade for the Marco Polo Network: “The Marco Polo Network is accelerating its presence in North America and we are very pleased to have one of the largest and most innovative trade finance banks in the world joining the Network,”, He adds, “We look forward to working with Bank of America to address critical market challenges and to expand the Network’s reach and eco-system to a wider audience of Corporate Customers.”

David E. Rutter, CEO at R3: “The Marco Polo Network’s existing roster of banks is further strengthened by welcoming Bank of America – one of the most prominent and innovative players in the financial services space. As the network continues to grow, so too does the growing number of use cases blockchain technology presents in transforming financial markets. Trade finance is one such area that is set to benefit the most from the promise of blockchain and the increased efficiencies it can bring. We hope that Bank of America’s place in the network will encourage more to join us in transforming trade finance through technology.”