An HDBank branch in HCM City. HDBank has become the first lender in Viet Nam to offer blockchain-based letter of credit transactions. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HCM CITY — HDBank, the first Vietnamese bank to enter the global financial and commercial network, has pioneered the issuance, document presentation and successful payment of letters of credit on the blockchain platform.

This marks a new milestone in HDBank’s journey to become a ‘Happy digital bank’ by providing customers with the most advanced L/C transaction method, blockchain technology, on a trial basis.

Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation, a leading fibre importer, and Tainan Spinning Co. Ltd, a leading Taiwanese yarn manufacturer and exporter, along with CTBC, the L/C advising bank in Taiwan, are the first participants in HDBank’s L/C transactions on the blockchain platform.

Compared with the traditional method, blockchain-based L/C transactions offer higher security, reduce the time taken to process the transaction (only takes about two hours), minimise paperwork and errors, and save time.

Besides, the permanent storage also helps comparison, statistics, and management historical transaction of partners and customers and enables the parties to update the implementation status.

Thanks to the state-of-the-art blockchain technology and HDBank’s co-operation with many large banks and corporations around the world, the L/Cs provide an absolutely guarantee to the receivers and create seamless transactions and an instant flow of precise and trusted data across the world’s trade routes and fragmented eco-systems.

HDBank is one of the few Vietnamese banks that can offer confirmation for L/Cs issued by foreign banks.

It is also the first bank in Viet Nam to become a member of the TradeAssets Trade Finance E-marketplace and a pioneer in providing international money transfer query services via Swift GPI in major currencies such as USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, AUD, CAD, JPY, THB, HKD, and SGD.

It has successfully put into operation the Treasury – FIS Front Arena system to seamlessly meet the requirements of handling business transactions and managing currency trading risks. — VNS