Commerzbank and Fraunhofer IML establish Innovation Lab on the future of international trade finance

Commerzbank established the first financial institution an “Enterprise Lab” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund, and thus expands the existing since July 2017 cooperation. The Enterprise Center Lab at the Fraunhofer IML combines science and business. It already has several issue-specific Labs renowned industrial companies in the areas of sensor technology, automotive, logistics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications. Company representatives and researchers analyze there together current and future trends within the logistics and supply chain management and evaluate possible scenarios for developing innovations and pioneering business models.

With the “Trade Finance Innovation Lab”, the Commerzbank is now one of the leading European foreign commercial banks part of the Enterprise Lab Center and covers the first bank to financial services with a focus on trade finance business, so the processing and financing of international trade transactions decreases. In future, application-oriented scientists at the Fraunhofer IML in the fields of logistics, supply chain management and block chain technology will work closely with trade finance specialists of Commerzbank and its research and development unit, main incubator.

“Since the start of cooperation with Fraunhofer IML practical applications for the trade finance business have been identified and prioritized with corporate clients of the bank. Processes along physical supply chains can be linked by new technologies much more closely with the financial supply chain. So manual processes can be automated and run more efficiently in many areas of the supply chain so far. The Enterprise Center Lab creates just the right ambience to our successful cooperation “to further intensify, said Nikolaus Giesbert, Executive Vice President Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities and Trade Finance & Cash Management, Commerzbank AG. “With our Trade Finance Innovation Lab ‘, we will in future work across industries from taking advantage of the opportunities of digitization in both physical and financial supply chains in perfectly,” said Giesbert.

In “Trade Finance Innovation Lab” are developing new payment and financing solutions for the commercial finance business based on innovative technologies such as the Distributed ledger Technology (DLT), Smart Contracts and the Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT) and be brought to market. At the same standards and conditions for digitization of the international supply chain management and the corresponding financial instruments should be actively involved.

“We are delighted to have won with Commerzbank a financial institution as a partner, has decades of experience in international trade finance. The core competencies of Commerzbank and the Fraunhofer IML are highly complementary. This will in future also the financial area “covered as part of our Enterprise Lab Center, explains Prof. Dr. Michael Henke, Department Head at Fraunhofer IML. “The in our Trade Finance Innovation Lab ‘jointly developed solutions will be the trend for the digital banking along global supply chains of the future,” says Henke.