HPD LendScape announced it has partnered with Emirates Development Bank (EDB) to launch UAE’s National Supply Chain Finance (SCF) platform, giving UAE businesses improved access to working capital, particularly as they cope with the added pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SCF solutions enable suppliers to gain quicker access to money they are owed, while buyers get more time to pay off their balances and the new platform will offer a simple, fast and transparent way for bank lenders to onboard both buyers and suppliers. The initial phase of the project offering a payables finance solution has now gone live. The next phase is set to provide a comprehensive suite of buyer and supplier centric SFC variations, including Islamic Finance products.
Going live in a record time frame of 4 months, fully implemented remotely and hosted locally by EDB, the National Supply Chain Finance platform has extensive configurability to adapt to different regulatory environments and local market requirements, giving onboarded banks the ability to launch their own payables products variations and manage their custom buyer programs. HPD will also help EDB set up a new Centre of Excellence that will provide expert support to local funders.
Bringing together buyers, suppliers and banks onto one platform, the National Supply Chain Finance solution helps simplify and automate operations, mitigate risk more effectively and make SME finance easily accessible - much needed in the UAE today. Through a modern online portal accessible from any device, suppliers can interact with both buyers and funders in real time, can request finance with a click and all counterparties enjoy personalized screens and increased visibility of accounts receivables in the supply chain. New onboarding capabilities enable a fast, paperless and efficient KYC process including approval hierarchies and anti-money laundering checks, with bespoke workflows tailored to each buyer programme and to each group ofsuppliers orto even individualsuppliers, much of which lenders historically completed via lengthy and slower manual processes.
SMEs in the UAE are finding accessing funds and maximising liquidity, particularly in the current environment to be a challenge, prompting national measures aimed at supporting them. The project is supported by the UAE Government and was developed through the close collaboration between HPD LendScape, Emirates Development Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. HPD LendScape is offering a complete solution to EDB, providing ongoing expert advisory support as a close partner to the bank as well as implementing the digital platform.