Camerinelli says his research with 100 corporates revealed few who had even heard of
blockchain, indicating banks need to do more to involve the corporates in the process
of automating trade finance on the blockchain. He also observes that there have been
many attempts to automate trade finance already, but still document-heavy letters of
credit processes remain firmly in place. “You have to look at what’s in it for a corporate.
With letters of credit corporates are somehow outsourcing to banks additional services
– checking goods have arrived et cetera – so in the cost of LC processing they are also
receiving a value-added service. If this process goes digital the corporate has to find it
more beneficial. The bank payment obligation (BPO) was a powerful solution, but it also
shows what happens if banks develop a solution between themselves and just assume
corporates will jump on it. They have to be involved from the outset.”