At EuroFinance 2017 in Barcelona, Simon Taylor, former Vice President for Entrepreneurial Partnershps at Barclays who went on to co-found fintech consultancy 11:FS told delegates how the bank had provided a blockchain solution to Ornua (formerly the Irish Dairy Board) in the form of a letter of credit transaction.
Announced by Ornua on 6 September 2016, the LC deal between Ornua and Seychelles Trading Company was handled on a platform developed by Israeli start-up fintech Wave, one of 11 start-ups that had gone through the Barclays Accelerator programme in 2015. At the time, Group Trade Finance Manager David O’Rourke said, “Moving to paperless trade would be hugely beneficial in supporting the supply chain, through reduced costs, error-free documentation, and fast transfer of original documents to our customers worldwide.”
In his article, How blockchain can restore trust in trade, published on 1 February 2017, Jesse McWaters, Project Lead for Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services at the World Economic Forum, observed, “The transaction guaranteed the trade of almost US$100,000 worth of cheese and butter between Irish agricultural food co-operative Ornua and the Seychelles Trading Company. The process – from issuing to approval of the letter of credit, which usually takes between seven and 10 days – could be reduced to less than four hours.”