On December 17, Accenture announced that it had formed a strategic partnership with TradeIX, a firm based in Dublin, which focuses on distributed ledger technology. TradeIX aims to incorporate the DLT into global trade, helping to improve efficiency. As part of the deal, Accenture will invest in TradeIX. However, the details of the deal were not disclosed to the public.
About TradeIX
The company was founded in 2016 and it has managed to attract investments from major investors such as Kistefos Venture Capital, ING Ventures, and BNP Paribas Private Equity. In the past, it has collaborated with Commerzbank, Bank of America, Oracle, AIG, and DHL. It has offices all over the world in places such as Singapore, London, and Kettering. TradeIX is also active in the US and Germany. At the start of 2019, it revealed that it planned to expand into Dublin.
Improved Efficiency in Global Trade
In the Accenture press release, the company noted that the current system of global trade was complex, slow, and costly. With the use of the distributed ledger technology, it would be possible to fully automate the processes involved in global trade. According to Accenture it would result in less financial risk and more efficiency in the long-term.
As part of this partnership, Accenture will work with TradeIX to bring real-world use cases that go beyond the banking industry. According to the managing director of blockchain services at Accenture, by capitalizing on the solid foundation TRadeIX has in the banking sector, it will be able to help companies reveal the untapped data across various processes such as supply chain and accounting. Accenture made this investment via Accenture Ventures.
Accenture’s Commitment to Ireland
According to the director of Accenture in Ireland, Mr. Blair, this was an example of the firm’s ongoing commitment to Ireland. He added that this investment showed Dublin was an important global hub for technology. Blair concluded by saying he was confident this partnership would be of great value to their clients across the world.
According to the TradeIX CEO, this latest partnership, coupled with their expanding global footprint across banking and corporate clients, will enable them to reach their goal of making global trade more efficient.
Accenture and TradeIX will be working together to help grow the Marco Polo Network. This is an international venture of over 30 global banks, corporations, and technology firms. It aims to make it more efficient to share trade-related data.
Why this Deal is Important
According to the WTO, about $15.5 trillion worth of exports are transported to various destinations globally with about 80% of this requiring trade finance. Trade financing helps to facilitate global trade by providing financing to exporters and importers.
However, the current global supply chain is decentralized and based on paper. This leaves firms open to fraud. The blockchain could help to reduce inefficiencies of global without having to rely on one party to manage the data for all clients. A recent report by the World Economic Forum estimates that DLT solutions could help to grow global trade by about $1 trillion.
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