Avanza’s Trade & Finance Projects highlighted in World Trade Organizations (WTO) latest White Paper: Blockchain & DLT in Trade
Following the launch of TFG / WTO / ICC’s publication “Blockchain & DLT in trade: A reality check” in November 2019 at the WTO Global Blockchain Forum, this updated research study provides an overview and updated periodic table.
The study outlines the main projects, categories into Supply Chain Finance, Trade Finance, Know Your Customer (KYC), Insurance, DLT Digitization of Trade Documents, Shipping & Logistics / Supply Chain, Other Initiatives and Marketplaces. The authors also mapped out 19 standardization initiatives, split by sector or process, general trade, private sector-led and regional / national initiatives, as well as the international standards bodies.
The study also contains a supplementary survey, analyzing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on trade digitization.
Video: WTO & TFG Launches ‘Blockchain & DLT for Trade: Where do we stand?’
Authors: Emmanuelle Ganne, Senior Analyst, Economic Research and Statistics Division, World Trade Organization (WTO) & Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director, Trade Finance Global (TFG)
Special Thanks: Waqas Mirza, CEO – Avanza Innovations
- Published in Financial Regulation & Supervision, Trade & Supply Chain
Govt. of Sindh, through SAGP Launches Blockchain Based Procurement Platform Collabrex, in Collaboration with World Bank, Avanza, & Microsoft
Sindh Agricultural Growth Project (SAGP) on Monday, 22nd June 2020 announced the launch of Blockchain Enabled Smart Framework Agreement platform Collabrex , in collaboration with representatives from Government of Sindh, World Bank Group, Avanza and Microsoft.
The event kicked-off with the opening remarks from the Honorable Provincial Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Muhammad Ismail Rahoo where he congratulated Avanza and Microsoft for successfully delivering a state of the art and first ever Production grade blockchain based platform in Pakistan for SAGP and The World Bank.
Avanza is proud to be the only company in Pakistan to implement the first-ever production grade Blockchain implementation in Pakistan, collaboratively with its strategic partner Microsoft at Sindh Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP).
Speaking at the event, Mr. Aftab Solangi, Chief Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist – SAGP said, “SAGP in collaboration with the World Bank conceptualized the idea and further developed a prototype of Blockchain to integrate into our procurement system”
The Government of Sindh with the support of World Bank initiated the SAGP project for the well-being of small-scale farmers and overall development of the agricultural sector. With the help of Collabrex platform, farmers have an access to a digital market place from where they can conveniently acquire relevant equipment and resources seamlessly – while the Government of Sindh, SAGP, and World Bank can keep a complete and immutable trace of the provided equipment and resource. In addition to this, Collabrex provides a paperless/online experience in these challenging times of Covid-19 where farmers can avail Government of Sindh led facilities through digital channels without having to visit government offices.
Mr. Hidayatullah Chhajro, DG/PD, Agriculture Extension Sindh, Said “Collabrex is a break through which will bring ease in the life of farmer through various components of the solution such as E-Marketplace”
The event was taken forward to understand the vision of World Bank behind Collabrex. Mr. Guo Li, Sr. Economist Task Team Leader SAGP – World Bank congratulated all the stakeholders for launching Collabrex. Mr. Guo while apprising the participants about World Banks’ collaboration with SAGP stated “This platform can be replicated in other departments of the government to take advantage of this solution, especially in current Covid-19 pandemic by using this platform to encourage contactless and digital environment”
Collabrex has been built on high performance distributed ledger technology framework, Hyperledger Fabric, deployed on Microsoft Azure, and implemented using CIPHER: Avanza’s Blockchain implementation platform. Built on blockchain technology, Collabrex ensures transparency, data immutability, audibility and precise execution of all processes through smart contracts. The platform can be easily extended to support allocation, dispatch and tracking of equipment and resource in any industry vertical
“Collabrex will reap benefits to World Bank and any other donor by ensuring that the funds are utilized for intended purpose, since the platform data is secure and immutable”
Mr. Khalid Anjum, Procurement Specialist – World Bank
“Microsoft is keen to play its role in promoting the great work happening in the region. Through our partners such as Avanza that have local know-how and global expertise, this is the recipe of making such projects successful. Collabrex leverages Avanza’s Cipher platform and Microsoft Azure cloud services to meet needs set out by Govt .of Sindh, this is also aligned with Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
Shahzad Khan, Country General Manager – Microsoft Pakistan
Avanza has been enabling and empowering governments across multiple regions to embrace 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) through digital government transformation and smart city platforms – and through nascent technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. We are very happy that SAGP has provided Avanza the opportunity to implement Pakistan’s first production-grade blockchain solution. We hope to replicate this success in many other verticals and regions within Pakistan
Waqas Mirza, CEO – Avanza Innovations
Collabrex Architecture
Blockchain Enabled Smart Framework Agreements
- Published in Digital Government Transformation, Trade & Supply Chain
The BENEFIT Company launches first Blockchain Based National EKYC platform in the region with its technology partner Avanza Innovations #3
The Benefit Company Bahrain has launched the first ever production grade eKYC blockchain implementation in the region in collaboration with IGA and Avanza as technology partner. Avanza is proud to implement the first blockchain eKYC project in the region harnessing CIPHER- Avanza’s Blockchain Orchestration Platform.
“CIPHER is Avanza’s Blockchain Orchestration and Governance Platform which enables blockchain implementation for enterprises in a fast and scalable manner. The availability of ready-made microservices and components in CIPHER make it easy to kick start enterprise blockchain implementations with inherent scalability.”
Avanza’s Cipher along with Hyperledger Fabric 2.2 with AWS Deployment is used in Bahrain to store all KYC data across financial institutions and Gov. Entities and share the data across financial institutions and other network participants with customer’s consent.
The eKYC implementation over blockchain enables participants privacy and inculcate efficiency in verifying KYC data. The platform also facilitates a tamper-proof encrypted master record of KYC data by Benefit Bahrain on blockchain. The implementation enables a paperless ecosystem in these challenging times of Covid to transform electronic payments systems through disruptive technology.
MR. KHALID AL HAMAD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF BANKING SUPERVISION AT THE CBB SAID
The CBB urges all licensed financial institutions to avail of this innovative and streamlined service and accelerate its efforts towards automating the maintenance of its customer data and reputation records, by implementing eKYC API integration with their core systems, digital channels and mobile apps. We continue to support technological advancement in the sector to minimize cost while also fostering innovation and integration between financial institutions and fintech companies. This is also in line with the CBB’s continuous efforts in developing the financial sector infrastructure in light of the Covid-19 repercussions to ensure appropriate solutions for electronic payment systems.
The Vice Chairman of eTransformation in the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA), Dr.Zakareya Ahmed Alkhaja, confirmed that iGA supports “BENEFIT” for the technical advancements in the financial sector in the region. He pointed out that the authority has started providing the identity verification services in the government with a vision of providing customers ownership of their data and sharing the information with ease. He expressed his pride in the first ever eKYC project on blockchain that will further contribute towards the economic and commercial growth in the region.
“It gives us great pleasure to continue developing the eKYC platform in an effort to drive digital transformation in the Kingdom’s various sectors. We have succeeded in enabling the integration of this digital platform into core banking systems and smart phone applications, and we are pleased to announce that Bahrain Islamic Bank has successfully integrated this platform into its core banking services system, while “ila” Bank offers customer on-boarding in a completely digital and autonomous manner through its mobile app, both based on eKYC API integration. We look forward to the use of eKYC services on a larger scale during the coming period.”
Abdulwahid Janahi, BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Officer
“Avanza has been enabling and empowering governments across multiple regions to embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) through digital government transformation and smart city platforms – and through nascent technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. We are very happy that BENEFIT BAHRAIN has provided Avanza the opportunity to implement Bahrain’s first production-grade eKYC blockchain solution. We hope to replicate this success in many other verticals and regions within Bahrain.”
Waqas Mirza, CEO, Avanza Innovations
