Business Desk :
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and Unilever Bangladesh Limited this month conducted their first transaction using HSBC’s Supply Chain Finance platform (“HSCF”). The digital solution provides working capital finance at competitive prices to Unilever Bangladesh and its network of suppliers, according to a statement.
HSBC Supply Chain Finance (HSCF) is an electronic platform which benefits both the bank’s customers and their trade partners through automation and enhanced usability. The solution digitises the end-to-end process of financing the invoices raised by Unilever Bangladesh’s suppliers. No manual intervention is required from approval of the invoices to crediting the proceeds to suppliers account.
The proposition is small-to-medium-enterprise (SME) friendly as suppliers do not need to set up a credit limit, or need to change their current banking providers. It also provides ‘a single point of truth’ when managing data and supports all parties to save time, reduce manual errors and provide quick and timely updates when conducting business.
Commenting on the solution, Md. Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO HSBC Bangladesh said, “We see digitising Unilever Bangladesh’s supply chain finance as an enormous opportunity to make doing business easier not only for our customers, but their suppliers too. The ability to offer competitive working capital finance across an entire supply chain means we can deliver a better experience and add value, especially to SMEs who can realise greater potential from the speed and simplicity of our digital services. I would like to thank Unilever for this partnership and we are thrilled to introduce these benefits to the Bangladeshi market.”
Kedar Lele, Chairman and Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh Limited, said, “We are happy to partner with HSBC who has brought such innovative solution which will yield robust and cost-effective financial services. Most importantly, it will allow our small and medium suppliers access to finance at highly competitive rates.
By ensuring access to finance of our small and medium suppliers and helping them grow, we not only positively impact those business owners and their workers, but help their families and communities become more prosperous, and thereby more resilient.”
HSBC belives that supply chains are one of the most important levers for banks and business to create a positive effect on the world. HSBC processes over USD 1 million worth of trade turnover every minute, delivered through superior technology and platforms necessary to help manage trade risk, process trade transactions and fund trade activities, ultimately making it easier for businesses to connect to new markets and trade partners around the world.
