Published: March 29, 2022
With an advisory solutions-based approach, a focus on ease of integration, and innovation through collaboration driving co-creation of solutions with clients and fintechs, Standard Chartered is a powerhouse in the Asia Pacific region. In recent years, the bank has made investments in mobile wallet connectivity, electronic banking solutions, blockchain technologies, SWIFT connectivity and APIs – helping clients implement best-in-class digital treasury.
Best Bank for Cash & Liquidity Management
Asia Pacific
Best Bank for Trade Finance & Financial Supply Chain
Asia Pacific
Best Customer Experience
Solution Innovation
Highly Commended
Best Employee Engagement Project
The bank has been remarkably busy innovating in the trade and supply chain space helping numerous clients to deploy cutting-edge solutions, such as the Islamic and sustainable supply chain finance (SCF) programmes outlined below. Standard Chartered has also focused on helping clients in need, with supplier finance and receivable services growing more than 50% by Q3 2021 in Asia through an active repivot of the bank’s asset book to industries that required the most working capital during the ongoing pandemic.
One sector that needed special support was the ready-made garments industry (RMG). Standard Chartered Bank disbursed USD-denominated pre-shipment loans to support RMG manufacturers to face the challenges imposed by Covid-19. This specific response was designed through consultation with renowned buyers, enabling enhanced liquidity support for clients in a challenging environment.
In addition, Standard Chartered has created new solutions in response to client needs, such as Flexiloan – a fully straight-through processed, automated and platform-based solution for distributor financing. The product is offered through the bank’s digital platform, Straight2Bank. Clients apply online, and if everything is in order, the loan is disbursed within 10 minutes. No manual intervention is required. And as the name, suggests, Flexiloan provides flexibility to the seller to drawdown funds at their convenience. Distributors can also pre-settle the loans when they wish.
Together, all of these innovations culminate in Standard Chartered being the undisputed winner of Best Bank for Trade & Financial Supply Chain – Asia Pacific 2021.
Of particular note in this year’s Awards programme is the significant number of client solutions being deservedly recognised for the roll-out of innovative and cutting edge solutions. These are un-locking value and creating competitive advantage, with Standard Chartered helping six clients to win Corporate Recognition Awards in 2021, with joint innovative projects, pushing the boundaries of smart and sustainable treasury.
Best Virtual Accounts Solution
AirAsia India
AirAsia Group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to more than 165 destinations spanning 25 countries. The group has a branch office account in India, with around 4,000 travel agents across the country. AirAsia typically collects funds (top-up amounts) from agents through direct transfers via NEFT, RTGS and IMPS. The collections process was manually intensive with pain points including delayed posting of credits, which in turn impacted agents’ limits. The company was looking for a more efficient way to manage this process.
Working with Standard Chartered, a solution was conceived that combines virtual accounts with API-based credit notification to simplify collections, receivables posting, reconciliation, and systems reporting. A travel agent now remits funds electronically via NEFT/RTGS/IMPS from a virtual account created for that agent. The bank notifies AirAsia India in real time via API immediately upon crediting of funds. The notification contains the travel agent’s details in order to pass on the credit to the agent’s account in real time.
As a result, a travel agent can receive payment on a real-time basis (24/7/365) and can issue tickets round-the-clock. The solution improves efficiency and connectivity and provides faster turnaround. This makes life easier for the travel agents sending business to AirAsia, and by continually refreshing credit limits, supports AirAsia in growing its sales.
The company also benefits from filtered API notifications so that AirAsia receives only credit notifications, avoiding redundant debit-related data being sent to it via API. In summary, this virtual account and API credit notification solution has also reduced the DSO for AirAsia India. Furthermore, this solution helped the business to identify unaccounted cash, hence resulting in better and quicker utilisation of funds – and all of these achievements make the project a worthy winner of Best Virtual Accounts Solution 2021.
Best Trade Finance Solution
Apraava
Owned by the CLP Group, Apraava Energy Pvt. Ltd (Apraava) is one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia. The company is developing a 250-megawatt wind project for which it has engaged the services of an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to supply and erect wind turbines. In recent years, the contractor had undergone a series of debt restructurings, and the pandemic put further pressure on new orders.
As the EPC contractor had working capital constraints, it requested assistance from Apraava with bank lines to issue LCs to suppliers for procurement of capital goods for wind-turbine components. The supply chain for a typical wind turbine is quite complex with 40 to 50 suppliers for different components.
Given that the end liability for the LCs issued was on Apraava, it was important to monitor the LCs issued and to ensure that the EPC contractor’s suppliers had fulfilled all obligations before receiving payment under the LC. So, together with Standard Chartered, Apraava developed an innovative transferable LC structure to enable onward procurement of wind turbine components by the EPC contractor.
Under the agreed solution, Standard Chartered issues transferable LCs (up to 60% of contract value) on behalf of Apraava favouring the EPC contractor in Indian rupees (INR) for different tenors (from nine months to one year). Standard Chartered acts as the LC issuing and transferring bank, transferring the LCs at the request of the contractor to suppliers in INR to enable the EPC contractor to procure capital goods from onshore/offshore suppliers. The transferred LCs could be for a shorter tenor. The structure provides the flexibility to include multiple suppliers, with different payment tenors, within a single LC.
The LC solution has been a huge success and demonstrated numerous areas of innovation including a cutting-edge structure, electronic sharing of documentation, and flexibility for the EPC contractor to provide LCs to different suppliers having different delivery schedules and payment tenors. The joint project has been a win for all involved and is deserving of TMI’s 2021 Corporate Recognition Award for Best Trade Finance Solution.
Best Blockchain Solution
PTT Global Chemical
PTT Public Company is the major supplier of national gas in Thailand. Its subsidiary, PTT Global Chemical Public Company (PTTGC), is Thailand’s largest integrated petrochemical and refining firm. The company’s existing process for issuing invoices and paying against them was complex, with many touch points between PTTGC’s suppliers/distributors, PTTGC and Standard Chartered. The existing withholding tax process also required PTTGC to issue a paper withholding tax certificate to suppliers and send withholding tax information to the Thai Revenue Department.
PTTGC envisioned streamlining the entire process to eliminate inefficiencies through digitalisation and worked with Standard Chartered to implement:
PTTGC is among the first major corporations in Thailand to use blockchain technology and API connectivity to address inefficiencies in supply chain management, and the TMI judges had no hesitation in naming this the Best Blockchain Solution 2021.
Best Accounts Receivable Solution
Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL)
Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL) maintains cash management relationships with multiple banks to collect from its 700 distributors across Pakistan. These banks provide purely branch-based cash and cheque collections. In the past, payment reconciliation/realisation had required manual intervention, which caused lags in the overall process. These, in turn, caused delays in CCBPL’s payment realisation life cycle, which also put pressure on supply chain operations. The pandemic added to the pain by making it harder for CCBPL to collect via manual-based, physical touch points.
Additionally, distributors/depositors were making multiple payments against a single invoice or making a single payment against multiple invoices at these physical collection points. These transactions were creating problems around credit claim knock-offs, debit knock-offs, and advance tax adjustments.
CCBPL sought a bank- and channel-agnostic collections solution that would: eliminate the need for multiple cash management bank relationships; enable distributors/depositors to generate digital invoices; scale flexibly to cater to CCBPL’s requirements; automate the process for payment realisation and reconciliation; reduce transaction turnaround time; let distributors/depositors pay via any bank’s digital, physical, or hybrid channel to CCBPL; and send real-time alerts and transaction status updates to CCBPL’s ERP for efficient release of stock.
Standard Chartered proposed a digital collections solution to CCBPL in partnership with Haball, a business-to-business SaaS fintech. The solution digitises CCBPL’s order-to-cash life cycle, consolidating information across all omnichannel endpoints into a single window. To achieve this, Haball provides two separate portals, one for CCBPL and the other for its distributors. The corporate portal integrates directly with CCBPL’s ERP. Meanwhile, the distributor’s portal enables the distributors to place orders online, as well as receive and pay invoices electronically. In fact, leveraging the fintech’s integration with local payment service provider, 1Link, CCBPL’s distributors/depositors can choose to use any bank’s digital channel and/or branch counter to fetch and pay their outstanding invoices via the portal.
As a result, CCBPL no longer needs to maintain multiple bank relationships and can better manage and reconcile its accounting records. The funds debited from the payer’s bank account are transferred into CCBPL’s bank account maintained with Standard Chartered. Additional benefits of this fully integrated collection solution include transparency throughout the sales and distribution network, greater efficiency, cost reduction, enhanced visibility, and improved control. As an early mover in this space, CCBPL, together with partners Standard Chartered and Haball, deserves the Award for Best Accounts Receivable Solution 2021.
Best Supply Chain Solution
Highly Commended
Barry Callebaut
Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut was experiencing significant growth in Malaysia. As a result, the company was looking for ways to promote supplier loyalty, while strengthening supply chain stability and resilience.
Barry Callebaut therefore approached several local and international banks for proposals to implement a supply chain solution to support its key suppliers in gaining access to early payments. Standard Chartered was chosen to deliver a digital cross-border supply chain solution for Barry Callebaut’s two entities in Malaysia (BCM and BCMM). The solution achieves end-to-end automation by leveraging SWIFTNet and straight-through processing through Standard Chartered. As a result, the vendors receive same-day payment.
This supplier financing is structured under a Shari’a-compliant format, demonstrating Standard Chartered’s Islamic banking capabilities to offer a multicurrency programme covering various geographies. A key differentiator is the supply chain solution’s ability to handle a netting requirement. The bank automatically performs netting and makes net payments to vendors, enabling Barry Callebaut to save time on reconciliation.
This solution demonstrates innovation and best practice in the Malaysian market and is therefore a worthy Highly Commended in the Best Supply Chain Solution category.
Best Sustainable SCF Solution
Highly Commended
Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB)
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) is one of the largest airport operator groups in the world—by number of passengers handled—managing 39 airports across Malaysia as well as one international airport in Turkey. Due to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, MAHB was keen to set up a supplier finance programme to enable its vendors to enjoy immediate liquidity at competitive pricing.
MAHB worked with Standard Chartered to structure a Shari’a-compliant SCF solution which also aligns with the bank’s sustainability framework. Under the programme, SME suppliers enjoy preferential pricing compared with non-SME suppliers.
Indeed, the solution promotes best practices in sustainability across MAHB’s ecosystem, with automation and digitalisation embedded for improved efficiency, productivity and working capital management. As such, this innovative project was named Highly Commended in the Treasury4Good Awards Best Sustainable SCF Solution.
Having already delivered digital solutions in major centres, further innovations are driving solutions in emerging markets, with noteworthy innovations contributing to the bank winning Best Bank for Cash & Liquidity Management – Asia Pacific 2021. These include:
Elsewhere, Standard Chartered has implemented Sri Lanka’s first ever API-connected instant payment solution for PickMe, a brand of Digital Mobility Solutions (Private) Ltd. And in Vietnam, Standard Chartered is one of a few global banks to provide instant payment and collection services, as well as the first bank in Vietnam to roll out a payment gateway services (Straight2Bank Pay) solution in the country.
The global banking industry is undergoing a seismic digital transformation as customer expectations have become increasingly sophisticated and time sensitive. In response, Standard Chartered has rolled out a chatbot to improve the turnaround time for functional business queries and to help drive customer satisfaction.
The bank’s chatbot leverages the latest technologies to perform to its best, including: advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) clustering and intent mapping patterns to make contextual conversations. The chatbot also has the ability to harness real-time data across multiple internal systems with a service mesh of APIs (most of which are micro services) to provide a unified response to customer queries across critical service journeys.
Wide adoption of the chatbot has progressively reduced customer dependency on the first line of support with a corresponding reduction in functional queries by 37% and turnaround time for critical issues from 10 hours to one minute. For this reason, the solution has been selected as the winner of the Best Customer Experience Award 2021.
In an age where women’s safety cannot always be guaranteed, Standard Chartered has responded by leveraging its in-house tech expertise, aXess Labs, to create an app-based solution to help protect its female employees when travelling on public transport. It’s work on this project is part of a wider D&I programme that recongnsies the value of all employees.
The solution, XGuardian, helps female members of staff navigate their surroundings, and is primed to send alerts to their family members and local authorities, such as the police, in case of an emergency. Additional features of the innovative app include mapping the safest route to a destination, travel history, and the ability to initiate an alert by shaking the app-loaded phone three times.
Thanks to XGuardian, female staff can be more at ease when travelling and know that any dangerous situation will immediately trigger alerts to the added emergency contacts. The aXess Labs team is working with the State Government of Karnataka, India, to ensure that the solution can be utilised by the female staff of other corporates, helping to ensure the safe inclusion in the workplace of every valued employee.
In the eyes of the TMI judges, XGuardian is the deserving winner of the Treasury4Good Employee Engagement Project Award 2021, and the judging panel looks forward to seeing this solution rolled out to more corporates in due course.
In another tech-related win, Standard Chartered also scooped a Highly Commended Award for Solution Innovation thanks to the work of its aXess Labs team around use of open banking-enabled integration and innovation to make life easier for customers.
Working with commercial and retail partners, Standard Chartered has successfully given a glimpse into the future of banking with its solutions including an Internet of Things (IoT) refrigerator with sensor capabilities for the visually challenged, and a car simulator with inbuilt security capabilities, as well as the ability to shop from the car.
The idea behind these innovations is to demonstrate how open banking, combined with IoT, can enhance the life of retail and business customers. And for this pioneering work, Standard Chartered is Highly Commended in the Solution Innovation category.
Reflecting on a record haul of 11 awards, Ricky Kaura, Head of Transaction Banking, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Standard Chartered says he is “extremely proud” that Standard Chartered has been honoured at the TMI Awards for Innovation & Excellence in Treasury 2021.
“These awards include Best Bank for both Cash & Liquidity Management, as well as Best Bank for Trade & Financial Supply Chain – Asia Pacific and distinguishes us as the leading transaction bank in Asia,” he remarks. “The Best Customer Experience in the Technology & Innovation Awards is a great further testament to our ability to deliver innovative, best-in-class digital solutions; and we are equally thrilled with the Best Solution Awards in the Accounts Receivables, Blockchain, Trade Finance and Virtual Accounts categories.”
Kaura adds: “It is a privilege to be working with the distinguished list of clients, that were deservedly recognised for their best-in-class digital solutions. These co-creations helped create competitive advantage and unlock value.”
Recognition across different categories, he continues, “would not have been possible without the close partnership and commitment from our clients, partners and teams, and the strong transaction banking propositions upon which we build these client-centred solutions.” TMI salutes a worthy multiple-winner.
For over 30 years, Treasury Management International (TMI) has been dedicated to promoting best practices and innovations in treasury management. The TMI Awards for Innovation & Excellence play a key role in this, formally recognising the corporate practitioners, banks, vendors and consultants who are defining new frontiers globally.
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