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HSBC’s Sibos Spotlight – Digital Trade Finance Innovations: Real-life Benefits for Treasurers
27 Plays3 years ago
The application of digital innovation in the context of the trade finance space cannot be understated. In the latest episode of our Sibos miniseries, HSBC’s Vinay Mendonca and Contour’s Carl Wegner discuss how, with powerful API tools at their disposal and a willingness to co-create, treasurers can capitalise on the increasingly digital trade finance environment. Our guests provide early insight into how APIs are being leveraged to facilitate data-based credit decisioning.
This is HSBC’s Sibos Spotlight, a podcast mini-series in collaboration with Treasury Management International (TMI). Throughout this series we will explore the critical topics impacting the transaction banking landscape, specifically looking at sustainability, digitisation and innovation. We will examine the opportunities and challenges disrupting the areas of payments, trade, custody and traditional business models.
To find out more about HSBC's transaction banking insights and presence at Sibos 2022, visit here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast Series
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to HSBC Global Viewpoint, the podcast series that brings together business leaders and industry experts to explore the latest global insights, trends, and opportunities.
00:00:13
Speaker
Make sure you're subscribed to stay up to date with new episodes.
00:00:16
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:00:17
Speaker
And now onto today's show.
Cyboss Event Collaboration
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome to TMI's Treasury Cast and HSBC's Cyboss Spotlight.
00:00:26
Speaker
I'm Eleanor Hill, editor of TMI, and I'm delighted to be working with HSBC to bring you an in-depth look at the events from this year's Cyboss.
00:00:35
Speaker
Throughout this series, we will explore the critical topics impacting the transaction banking landscape, specifically looking at sustainability, digitization, and innovation.
00:00:45
Speaker
We will examine the opportunities and the challenges disrupting the areas of payments, trade, custody and traditional business models.
Exploring Key Trends in Transaction Banking
00:00:54
Speaker
Well, another episode for you, and we've got another great pair of experts as well, namely Vinay Mendoza, who has just become Chief Growth Officer, Global Trade and Receivables Finance at HSBC, and Carl Wagner, who is CEO of Contour.
00:01:11
Speaker
So welcome both of you.
00:01:13
Speaker
It's great to have you here.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I'm sure our listeners have probably already guessed by now, by your mere presence, that we're going to be talking about the
00:01:21
Speaker
exciting and innovative world of digital trade finance.
00:01:24
Speaker
So we've got an awful lot to pack into this podcast and looking forward to hearing your insights.
00:01:31
Speaker
But it'd be great if we could kick off with maybe a bigger picture look at what's been going on over the last 12 months.
Advancements in Digital Trade Finance
00:01:37
Speaker
So Carl, what have you seen going on in the world of digital trade finance?
00:01:41
Speaker
Has there been a big change that's really caught your eye?
00:01:46
Speaker
Has there been a particular milestone that you've considered to be really impressive?
00:01:50
Speaker
What's
00:01:51
Speaker
what's going on out there that our listeners should know about.
00:01:54
Speaker
Thanks for the opportunity to be here.
00:01:55
Speaker
Obviously, the last 12 months or the last 24 months, obviously, COVID has emphasized the fact that having the resilience of digitalization is one way to keep your business going.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:10
Speaker
And obviously, everyone has seen that.
00:02:12
Speaker
I'm hoping that the, and I don't see it, but I'm hoping that momentum doesn't slow down
00:02:19
Speaker
Now that people can actually travel and paper can be mailed again.
00:02:24
Speaker
But I think people have realized that that's a decision they have to make on digitalization.
00:02:28
Speaker
I think one of the milestones is we're seeing smaller, not only the global banks who have been getting together and thinking about this for a long time, we're also seeing smaller regional banks or even smaller domestic banks also seeing digitalization as a choice they have to make and choosing providers to work with.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:50
Speaker
And yeah, so right on that.
00:02:52
Speaker
Hoping that we don't turn back on all of this digital progress that we've made and fingers crossed it will all press forward.
00:02:57
Speaker
Vinay, anything that you'd add?
00:02:59
Speaker
Any particular milestones that you've noticed?
00:03:03
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:03:03
Speaker
So for us, undoubtedly, it's been the rapid uptake of digital channels and tools by our clients.
00:03:12
Speaker
88% of our transactions, Eleanor, are now initiated digitally by our customers.
00:03:17
Speaker
This was less than around about 50% a few years ago.
00:03:21
Speaker
The 88% milestone is something we're really delighted and proud about.
00:03:26
Speaker
But it's also we're really happy that clients are using the full range of the digital toolkit, right from things like net-based UI, UX solutions, host-to-host connectivity, Swift,
00:03:38
Speaker
And I'm sure we'll talk about blockchain and contour as well.
00:03:42
Speaker
Another milestone just worth considering since you mentioned 12 months was, you know, major trading nations in the UK, as you know, have now pushed for legislative change around embracing digital documents and digital title transfer.
00:03:55
Speaker
That's something that we've been supporting and we're really happy that.
00:03:58
Speaker
there is the legislative support that will lead to a wider uptake of this usage.
00:04:04
Speaker
Just a couple of points more is, I'd say that the pandemic no doubt accelerated this digital uptake.
00:04:10
Speaker
But to your point, we don't believe that clients will ever revert back to the manual modes prior to what it was.
00:04:16
Speaker
So we believe this will be the solution they take forward.
00:04:21
Speaker
And I think the reason for that is,
00:04:23
Speaker
While digital definitely helps with quicker and more efficient outcomes, but a big driver in the current environment is the increased supply chain resiliency that digital solutions can afford through the visibility, through the transparency, and the quicker kind of solutions they deliver, right?
00:04:42
Speaker
And for that reason, we believe that this is here to stay.
00:04:44
Speaker
And we've seen this also bear out through better client satisfaction levels as well.
00:04:49
Speaker
Great to hear.
00:04:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think people are realizing that there's so many benefits once you even scratch the surface.
Collaboration and Co-Creation in Banking
00:04:55
Speaker
But that 88% VINAY, I wasn't even expecting it to be that high, to be honest.
00:04:59
Speaker
So it's fabulous to hear that.
00:05:01
Speaker
One of the other themes that's really been noticeable in the digital trade finance space over the last sort of 12, 24 months is
00:05:09
Speaker
has been that there's been so much more collaboration and also co-creation.
00:05:14
Speaker
So, Carl, tell us a little bit about why it's so important.
00:05:18
Speaker
Where do you think it's working well?
00:05:20
Speaker
What still needs to improve from a collaborative point of view?
00:05:24
Speaker
And also, where does Contour fit into this kind of collaborative co-creative picture?
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question.
00:05:32
Speaker
Again, Contour was started with this collaboration concept in mind.
00:05:38
Speaker
Eight banks came together to do the first POCs and then decided to make it into invest and make it a commercial company.
00:05:44
Speaker
So we started that whole idea of collaboration.
00:05:47
Speaker
A consortium as a service is really how we started.
00:05:52
Speaker
But as we look to the future, we're focused on the trade finance process.
00:05:57
Speaker
aspects and working with banks and corporates, but global trade is a lot more than just trade finance.
00:06:04
Speaker
There's shipping, there's bunker monitoring, there's ESG, there's green financing, there's sanction checking.
00:06:10
Speaker
There's a lot of other areas of expertise, domains of expertise out there that we're never going to be able to manage.
00:06:16
Speaker
And there's no way we would like to try that.
00:06:18
Speaker
So collaboration with other partners is key to giving an overall
00:06:25
Speaker
much more robust experience for banks and corporates.
00:06:29
Speaker
And that collaboration, we used to talk about data inheritance about 20 years ago.
00:06:35
Speaker
Don't key in the data twice.
00:06:37
Speaker
People have been talking since blockchain started and enterprise blockchain started 2016 about does everything have to be on the same blockchain system?
00:06:44
Speaker
It actually doesn't have to be.
00:06:46
Speaker
It doesn't have to be all blockchain.
00:06:47
Speaker
It can be any system that can connect through APIs.
00:06:51
Speaker
It's an opportunity to exchange information
00:06:54
Speaker
and delight the customer where there's data fields that overlap and you want data updated.
00:07:00
Speaker
And that's really where we see the opportunity to collaborate and continue to build this global trade ecosystem, not just trade finance, but global trade ecosystem to be more transparent and efficient.
00:07:13
Speaker
Absolutely, that sort of interoperability point is so key, but I liked what you said about the fact that, you know, when you're collaborating, you don't have to be great at everything, you can do the piece that you're best at, and then that delivers the kind of best solution for the end customer.
00:07:30
Speaker
So Finney, anything you wanted to add to that one?
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:07:33
Speaker
I think, you know, with trade, it's clear that not just the banks and customers need to co-create, but also the customs, ports, regulatory authorities that come together.
00:07:44
Speaker
No single entity or industry can solve this problem or challenge independently.
00:07:48
Speaker
Right.
00:07:48
Speaker
So I think it's fantastic that we've seen the collaboration coming together.
00:07:53
Speaker
I'll also just take, you know, a second to just talk about co-creating with clients specifically.
00:08:00
Speaker
When it comes to trade, it's quite important to understand the different user personas in our clients' offices and their different needs, because we span right across procurement teams that manage suppliers.
00:08:14
Speaker
to the sales teams that manage customers of our clients.
00:08:18
Speaker
And therefore each of them takes away something different from the solutions that we deliver.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I thought maybe I'd talk to two examples of where we've benefited by co-creating with some of our customers today.
00:08:30
Speaker
So one was where we worked with one of the largest British multinational retailers and also with a leading French home improvement MNC to develop the LC, letter of credit application screens.
00:08:44
Speaker
As you can imagine, these are fairly complex instruments and trying to create a set of screens that are very easy to use is quite challenging, actually.
00:08:55
Speaker
So we started out by firstly mapping the user personas in these offices.
00:08:59
Speaker
So we realized that the shipping clerks, the account payable clerks, the financial controllers were the ones with the most pain points.
00:09:07
Speaker
So we use tools like Sketch to prepare proof concepts and we visualize the client journey with wireframes.
00:09:14
Speaker
We then gave it to the users and we follow this approach called ethnography and design thinking, where we observe how easy it is for the client users to use these solutions and wireframes without having to be trained on it.
00:09:28
Speaker
So we actually observe them and rather than ask them and we see how easily they found the solutions, how intuitive it was naturally.
00:09:37
Speaker
And then we iterate those wireframes almost in real time.
00:09:40
Speaker
so that we get to the best solution possible.
00:09:42
Speaker
So it really helps us kind of deliver an end product that we know is usable and needs customers' needs.
00:09:49
Speaker
And we're really pleased that some of the, one of the reasons that e-penetration was that 88% was because we could deliver and digitize some pretty complex journeys like the letter of credit application screen.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, and make it just so user-friendly that, you know, almost anyone can do it.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:05
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:10:05
Speaker
And then another example maybe I thought I'd talk through was also co-creating with partners in this space.
00:10:12
Speaker
Probably seen we do have an arrangement with NetSuite where we have embedded our HSBC apps into the ERP journey so that customers can access our trade finance solutions as part of their journey, right?
00:10:26
Speaker
So to make it real, if a customer wants to pay an invoice,
00:10:31
Speaker
on their accounting or an ERP solution, as they're coming to that journey where they're selecting to pay the invoice, they could get an option to actually access HSBC Trade Finance in order to make that invoice payment.
00:10:43
Speaker
So we almost embed ourselves
00:10:45
Speaker
into that journey.
00:10:47
Speaker
And again, some of these solutions are only possible because we co-create with partners or with customers to be able to deliver them.
00:10:53
Speaker
Excellent Vinay, thank you for that.
00:10:55
Speaker
Karl, there was a point that I wanted to come back to you.
Efficiency through APIs
00:10:58
Speaker
Earlier you mentioned APIs and how they're essentially revolutionizing trade finance and the way it's delivered to corporate clients.
00:11:05
Speaker
So I'm just wondering, can you spell out for us in clear terms what's actually possible today with APIs within the trade finance world?
00:11:13
Speaker
And what are the practical benefits of these real-time capabilities, especially for treasury teams, for example?
00:11:20
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:11:21
Speaker
I mean, using APIs is a way for different systems, different ecosystems to transfer information, live time decisions made in one system and it's transferred to the other system, updating.
00:11:36
Speaker
It's allowing treasurers to, for instance, in Contour, an LC usually takes five to eight days to present.
00:11:45
Speaker
It usually can be done in an afternoon now.
00:11:48
Speaker
Now, all of a sudden, the treasurers have to think differently about how they plan for money.
00:11:53
Speaker
Before they had to plan, you know, it's plus or minus four days.
00:11:57
Speaker
I'll borrow the money now to pay.
00:11:58
Speaker
Now it's so very often, you know, with with data, with APIs, with connectivity.
00:12:04
Speaker
it's not necessarily paying earlier or later, it's the certainty of payment.
00:12:09
Speaker
What day do you have to plan for?
00:12:11
Speaker
And so it's not a zero-sum game that with technology, the buyer loses, the seller wins because they move faster.
00:12:21
Speaker
They can have more working capital efficiency.
00:12:24
Speaker
You can do more turns a year with that same credit line.
00:12:28
Speaker
You can plan better.
00:12:30
Speaker
So APIs and the ability to transfer information between systems and, you know, and that's an opportunity for different decisioning, being more efficient and working with your banks closer.
00:12:44
Speaker
And I think the last piece is what I've been looking forward.
00:12:47
Speaker
forward for the last 20 years I've been on this journey is the ability for banks to delight their customers with new products because you're going to have new milestones of data that can be verified.
00:13:01
Speaker
And you could look at risk in a different way.
00:13:03
Speaker
You could look at how to do payments in a different way.
00:13:06
Speaker
And that's a tremendous opportunity for banks to be able to do more, not just the traditional products, but to do more in the future when they have all these data sets.
00:13:15
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:13:16
Speaker
And on that note, Vinay, I believe HSBC has been sort of co-creating with Oracle.
00:13:20
Speaker
Is that right?
00:13:21
Speaker
That is correct.
00:13:22
Speaker
We embedded our solutions in Oracle's NetSuite solution.
00:13:27
Speaker
So customers can now quite seamlessly access HSBC capabilities as part of their journey within the NetSuite solution that they have.
00:13:36
Speaker
But, you know, if you just take a step back, I think, Eleanor, in this space, trade is happening in new venues, whether that's in
00:13:43
Speaker
marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, ERP systems, logistics platforms.
00:13:48
Speaker
And customers need us to offer our capabilities and embed them in these venues.
00:13:53
Speaker
And the only way to achieve this in a scalable manner is through APIs.
00:13:58
Speaker
So we've developed an API developer portal that is live
00:14:03
Speaker
So clients and partners alike can access that developer portal.
00:14:07
Speaker
They can see the technical specifications to over 50 APIs that we published that cover a set of journeys across our entire product suite.
00:14:18
Speaker
And we've seen an exponential increase in the number of API calls that we're getting across different partners and customers that we're engaged with.
00:14:26
Speaker
We've got about over 40 programs that are currently under implementation with new platforms or with new clients.
00:14:32
Speaker
So clearly, you know, the benefits that treasury teams see.
00:14:36
Speaker
through the seamless journeys, the real-time visibility, a kind of dashboard cockpit view that you get, as well as monitoring the risks are something that, you know, we see that this area is only going to further accelerate itself.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:14:50
Speaker
Certainly echo that from the conversations that we have with treasurers from the TMI side.
00:14:55
Speaker
APIs are always up there.
00:14:58
Speaker
But for those listeners, Carl, who maybe are still considering APIs, haven't made that leap.
00:15:04
Speaker
Are there any drawbacks that they should be aware of?
00:15:07
Speaker
Specific barriers to entry?
00:15:09
Speaker
Are APIs more suitable for a particular size of corporate or a sector of corporate?
00:15:15
Speaker
What would you say?
00:15:17
Speaker
Again, we work with the banks and the corporates.
00:15:21
Speaker
And obviously, that integration into the back office, whether it's to an SAP or called the ERP systems, or into the bank back office systems, that's a bigger decision.
00:15:33
Speaker
And that's an investment that really only makes sense for the multinationals, for a smaller SME.
00:15:40
Speaker
And I think what we've seen in Contour, and we've
00:15:44
Speaker
scaled our system now to be available to SMEs because in the past, a lot of these digitalization opportunities were only available to, for the last 20 years, to the large corporates.
00:15:55
Speaker
That's why, but trade is big and small.
00:15:58
Speaker
And we see the opportunity to, with an SME portal, with just being able to give, offer our services at very low cost to SMEs,
00:16:09
Speaker
Now we can manage a whole transaction from beginning to end.
00:16:12
Speaker
So people can see that transparency.
00:16:15
Speaker
And so SMEs can use the system or even small banks can start with the web browser.
00:16:23
Speaker
It's perfectly fine.
00:16:24
Speaker
And it's an opportunity to get access to that information that you never had before.
00:16:29
Speaker
Once you...
00:16:31
Speaker
Once you do enough transactions, once you may, it's more common than maybe you look at integration.
00:16:38
Speaker
I think the key thing is to start learning how you're going to change your mindset, your decisioning and the opportunities based on having digitalization squeeze down some of that time.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:54
Speaker
Don't be afraid to take those first steps as daunting as it might be because it's actually it's much easier once you get underway and there's an awful lot that you can learn quickly and also eventually implement fairly rapidly with APIs as well, which is a huge benefit.
Instant Credit Decisioning Progress
00:17:09
Speaker
Now, Carl mentioned a key word there Vinay, which is decisioning.
00:17:13
Speaker
So I wanted to ask you a little bit about a different application of technology in terms of leveraging it for database credit decisioning.
00:17:22
Speaker
So sort of giving more instantaneous feedback on that.
00:17:25
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about the progress that's being made there.
00:17:30
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:30
Speaker
So I think what API is and it's a perfect segue have enabled is this ability to access data.
00:17:39
Speaker
both historic data as well as real live data to make better quality decisions.
00:17:44
Speaker
So we've invested in credit models and scorecards, which now allow us to take in a wide range of information to take some of these decisions.
00:17:53
Speaker
So for example, things like the internal ratings that our clients may have of their suppliers and buyers, or in fact, external ratings that you can get through partners like Euler Amies or others, Alliance, Alliance Trade as they're called now,
00:18:07
Speaker
Or you could get history, like the performance history of suppliers and dilutions in their payments, aging, concentration levels.
00:18:15
Speaker
All this is a goldmine of information that's needed when we put it through our digital decision algorithms.
00:18:22
Speaker
So we consume this through the API infrastructure.
00:18:25
Speaker
And then we're able to turn around credit decisions almost instantaneously.
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:30
Speaker
Wherein in the past, we were relying on historic financial statements that kind of took us forever to, you know, it took weeks, months to take a decision.
00:18:38
Speaker
We now can do that in a day and get a much, much better quality decision, right?
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:43
Speaker
It reduces our cost and time to serve.
00:18:46
Speaker
But more importantly, using this, we can, you know, access a wider scale of customers that
00:18:53
Speaker
because it takes lower kind of effort at our end and it's much faster to consume this data so we can actually serve more customers using this.
00:19:02
Speaker
What we are now working on is to leverage non-traditional data feeds from IoT devices, like where we can get actual information on where the goods are, where the ships are and containers are, and we're already consuming some of this
00:19:17
Speaker
and making it available to our clients through mobile apps as well.
00:19:21
Speaker
So long story short, there's been a significant uptake in the use of these kind of credit models and scorecards.
00:19:28
Speaker
And our risk underwriters have been very happy to kind of support certain programs, you know, for clients in different industries.
00:19:36
Speaker
So we see this absolutely scaling up.
00:19:38
Speaker
Excellent.
00:19:39
Speaker
And like you say, that IoT piece, so interesting as well.
00:19:42
Speaker
I'm just wondering, Vinay, if there are any other sort of real life examples of the benefits to clients of this data based approach that maybe you could share with us?
00:19:51
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:19:51
Speaker
So I'd like to give a couple of examples of kind of real-time benefits or real-life benefits to customers through this database decisioning.
00:19:59
Speaker
So one of them is we've launched a solution called Digital Receivable Finance.
00:20:05
Speaker
We worked with a fintech partner called Trade Ledger to do this.
00:20:09
Speaker
In essence, what we do is an SME client can consent to share their sales ledger from their ERP system with us through a simple click of a button.
00:20:19
Speaker
that data comes through to us and we run it through a digital decision algorithm.
00:20:25
Speaker
So that algorithm really holds the years and years of expertise and IP that our risk underwriters have.
00:20:32
Speaker
We've been able to convert that into this algorithm.
00:20:35
Speaker
It takes the data and it spits out an approved, a decline or a manual intervention decision almost instantaneously.
00:20:44
Speaker
Just so you know, traditionally this process of approving a facility for receivable finance
00:20:49
Speaker
could take almost months, three to four months.
00:20:51
Speaker
There would be physical visits, paper would move up and down.
00:20:55
Speaker
We're now able to do that very, very instantaneously.
00:20:57
Speaker
And in less than a week, we can go from approaching a customer, getting them to consent to settle this information to actually making an offer to them.
00:21:06
Speaker
This is now live across all our key markets and we're actively commercializing it across a range of different ERP systems to use this data and offer receivable finance facilities.
00:21:17
Speaker
So that was one example.
00:21:19
Speaker
The other is an example that I wanted to share from our client, McCain Foods.
00:21:26
Speaker
So you probably know McCain Foods is a Canadian multinational in the frozen foods industry.
00:21:32
Speaker
It's a leader in this space.
00:21:35
Speaker
And the solution we've done is working with McCain is we've helped a potato farming company in China to get funding ahead of the growing season, right, when they need it.
00:21:47
Speaker
So the supplier typically needs this financing to buy seeds, lease land.
00:21:53
Speaker
tend crops in order to fulfill their contracts, right?
00:21:56
Speaker
So that's the kind of client need we are servicing.
00:21:59
Speaker
What we've done is using these digital decision process, what I just described, we're now getting access to the supplier's performance, their past history, as well as live information
00:22:12
Speaker
And we're able to actually kind of complete drawdown.
00:22:16
Speaker
So we accelerate the credit approval and we can kind of do a drawdown in a matter of just few days after they submitted its loan application.
00:22:23
Speaker
So in this particular case, for that potato farmer, we were able to get drawdown within three days of them submitting in the application and the documents.
00:22:32
Speaker
Normally that process would take three months, right?
00:22:36
Speaker
So this is the kind of agility that we're supporting and evolving needs
00:22:40
Speaker
for our clients' customers in the supply chain.
00:22:43
Speaker
And it really talks a lot to the resiliency of the supply chains that our customers are looking to build and kind of getting this level of data and being able to stern around those digital decisions is quite critical to be able to have for them to scale up.
00:22:58
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:22:58
Speaker
And that kind of agility at a time of, you know, such macroeconomic uncertainty and hardship for a lot of suppliers is going to make a huge difference for people.
00:23:08
Speaker
So fabulous examples, Ebene.
00:23:10
Speaker
Thank you so much for that.
00:23:12
Speaker
I'm conscious that we've covered an awful lot in this podcast already.
00:23:16
Speaker
Some great insights from you both, but I'm just wondering if we could leave our listeners with a few little action points.
00:23:23
Speaker
So
00:23:24
Speaker
Carl, what steps do you think corporate treasurers should be taking to make the most of this increasingly digital trade finance
Advice for Treasurers on Digital Trade Finance
00:23:31
Speaker
environment?
00:23:31
Speaker
What would be your suggestions to them?
00:23:35
Speaker
I think really just one thing, start.
00:23:37
Speaker
If you don't start, you won't learn.
00:23:39
Speaker
It's a learning process.
00:23:41
Speaker
Technology is always going to be iterations and getting better and better.
00:23:46
Speaker
That first app we had on our phone that checked bank balances, if everyone said, I'm not going to use this toy, I can transfer in 22 currencies and different effects...
00:23:56
Speaker
no one, it wouldn't have progressed, right?
00:23:58
Speaker
Technology is always a journey.
00:24:01
Speaker
So I think it's an opportunity for CFOs to think about where do I start?
00:24:07
Speaker
Where do I start with a certain corridor?
00:24:10
Speaker
Do I start with a certain buyer-seller pair where they're also interested in digitalization?
00:24:18
Speaker
And we can learn.
00:24:19
Speaker
That division can teach other divisions.
00:24:21
Speaker
So it's going to be a process.
00:24:23
Speaker
And I think the last thing is,
00:24:25
Speaker
Don't choose the hardest thing to solve first.
00:24:30
Speaker
Because very often they say, digitalization is great.
00:24:33
Speaker
I have this one customer, one transaction a year.
00:24:36
Speaker
Could you help me with that?
00:24:37
Speaker
And I'm thinking, well, that automation for one customer, that doesn't match.
00:24:42
Speaker
What are the other thousand transactions you do?
00:24:44
Speaker
Why don't you try working with something that has some volume where you see the actual benefits rather than automating a single transaction?
00:24:53
Speaker
So find a corridor, find a partner to work with.
00:24:57
Speaker
And I think all of us, you know, in from the banking side, from the fintech side, we're here to help them on the journey.
00:25:06
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:25:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
Just get started.
00:25:08
Speaker
Great stuff.
00:25:09
Speaker
And Vinay, your final thoughts?
00:25:11
Speaker
Sure.
00:25:11
Speaker
So I think from, you know, from what we're seeing is maybe a few years ago, if we had to do this, we would have said,
00:25:17
Speaker
initiate the digital kind of, you know, embracing digital, etc.
00:25:21
Speaker
But I think almost all the clients we speak to are already along that journey.
00:25:25
Speaker
And I think, like I said earlier, the imperatives around building resiliency in their supply chains, and adopting new business models, especially e commerce models to access bigger markets for growth is critical, right?
00:25:37
Speaker
I'd say the most successful ones, and these are the clients who kind of tell us where they think they've got it right, I think is whenever they're looking at digital solutions to come at it across the enterprise, right?
00:25:50
Speaker
So to take along the stakeholders within the company that could benefit from these digital adoptions.
00:25:57
Speaker
So for example, in supply chain finance, making sure the procurement team is fully engaged.
00:26:03
Speaker
As an example, the credit control teams typically are engaged in matters related to
00:26:07
Speaker
kind of on the sales growth side.
00:26:09
Speaker
So if we were doing a receivable finance solution and increasingly now on almost any solution we discuss bringing in their sustainability leads, their technology leads is something that, you know, we've seen happen right through.
00:26:23
Speaker
So I think thinking about digital solutions across the enterprise is quite important.
00:26:27
Speaker
I think the second thing to state is
00:26:30
Speaker
like firms like McCain, which we just referenced, is to think even beyond your enterprise.
00:26:35
Speaker
Think about your ecosystem.
00:26:37
Speaker
Think about what your supplier or what your buyer is going to need and what factors affect them.
00:26:42
Speaker
Because the success of your digital solutions are also predicated on how kind of your ecosystem subscribes to those same digital solutions.
00:26:54
Speaker
So I think, again, we see the most successful
00:26:56
Speaker
digital use cases are those where they think right across their entire ecosystem.
00:27:01
Speaker
And then absolutely think about solutions that help with visibility, your agility, so which help you change and diversify suppliers, et cetera.
00:27:09
Speaker
And, you know, customers are constantly, as we know, upgrading ERP systems.
00:27:14
Speaker
And I think it's important every time they do that, they think about, you know, how will that impact digital trade?
00:27:20
Speaker
But I tend to agree with Carl.
00:27:22
Speaker
absolutely start somewhere, think enterprise-wide and really come along on this journey.
00:27:28
Speaker
Brilliant stuff.
00:27:29
Speaker
And there's so many solutions out there now for clients as well.
00:27:33
Speaker
And it's very exciting.
00:27:34
Speaker
So thank you both ever so much for joining us and for sharing your insights, giving us a great update on the progress that's been made and the opportunities that are out there still to be had.
00:27:44
Speaker
It's much appreciated.
Conclusion and Additional Resources
00:27:45
Speaker
This has been HSBC's Cyboss Spotlight, a podcast mini series produced especially by TMI for HSBC Global Viewpoint.
00:27:53
Speaker
To discover other episodes in this series, search for HSBC Global Viewpoint on Apple and Spotify, or head to gbm.hsbc.com forward slash cyboss, where you can also find out more about HSBC's transaction banking insights and presence at Cyboss.
00:28:10
Speaker
Thank you for listening.
00:28:27
Speaker
Thank you for joining us at HSBC Global Viewpoint.
00:28:30
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed the discussion.
00:28:32
Speaker
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