Ngulminthang Lhanghal - Financial Expert

Absa CIB is positioning itself at the forefront of digital developments by being a part of Contour’s digital trade finance network. Many of Africa’s trade transactions are manual and paper-based, which slows down trade growth and creates another layer of complexity and costs. Absa CIB’s clients will now have access to Contour’s digital Letter of Credit (LC), which reduces the process of presenting documents from an average of 5-10 days to under 24 hours. Digital developments are a big part of addressing challenges and creating access to new markets. In Africa, digitisation is critical to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a flagship project that aims to boost intraAfrica trade by 52.3 percent and expand the size of the continent’s economy to US$29 trillion by 2050. With a presence in 15 countries from Botswana to Zambia, the Johannesburgbased diversified financial services group is banking on innovation to drive sustainable growth. Digital developments can

HSBC has partnered with Dowsure Technologies, a China-based cross-border e-commerce API platform, to facilitate the flow of trade finance to online suppliers by leveraging transaction data instead of collateral or financial documents. Launched in 2016, Shenzhen-based Dowsure – an Amazon Seller Lending Programme partner – has built a proprietary assessment model for online marketplace store owners that uses information such as inventory, sales and refund records. By connecting this data to financial institutions, Dowsure enables cross-border merchants to access credit that they might otherwise struggle to obtain. Under the terms of the partnership, Dowsure will provide a streamlined credit assessment process for Amazon merchants seeking to apply for trade finance from HSBC. In addition, the bank’s venture capital arm, HSBC Ventures, has made a strategic investment into the company. The size of the investment was not disclosed. “HSBC’s enhanced support for small and medium-sized e-commer