Consortia 2019 | BCR Publishing | 21 May 2019 | Hilton Metropole, 225 Edgware Rd, Paddington, London W2 1JU, UK

Consortia 2019 is the first international conference bringing together the major consortiums pioneering blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) for trade and receivables finance to the business and financial community.

In the coming years it is expected that blockchain transactions in trade and receivables finance will become the norm and according to consultants Bain and Company, may increase global trade volumes by $1.1 trillion and increase annual banking revenues by 25% which equates to $2 billion.

Despite Blockchain and trade and receivables finance being one of the most talked about subject in recent months, many individuals who could be affected by it – those in trade finance banks, logistics companies, credit insurers, factoring companies, are still keen to find out more of the precise workings and differences between the many banking consortiums set up to enable blockchain (or distributed ledger technology) financing. Consortiums, such as we.trade, Marco Polo, Voltron and Komgo, all address different aspects of trade and receivables finance and work in different ways. For example, Marco Polo’s aim is to facilitate open account trade by financing both pre- and post-shipment; whereas We.Trade’s focus is to make trade facilitation easier and to finance SMEs; Voltron is involved in in the digitisation of documentary trade; and Komgo’s purpose is in enabling seamless data communication between commodity trade partners. And while both Marco Polo and Voltron use Corda technology, We.Trade uses Hyperledger Fabric and Komgo uses Etherium.

While the consortiums are keen to attract new followers, there are a number of issues and questions to be addressed by prospective bank members as well as other stake holders such as corporates, credit insurers and logistics companies:

At what stage in development are each of the consortiums and what are they offering?
What are their core differences?
What are their future plans?
In addition to these most fundamental questions there are more operational aspects that require airing, such as:

How will the consortiums connect, or interoperate with each other?
What are the costs involved?
What are the details of real-life example transactions so far?
What is the state of play with developing standards and governance?
Blockchain and DLT offers revolutionary technologies in the trade and receivables finance sector, perhaps becoming the norm in the near future and making transactions faster, more secure, and cheaper. But understanding exactly what is on offer is key to assessing suitability and strategy in this rapidly developing sector.

Consortia 2019 will provide a forum for the consortiums and their prospective partners and other interested parties which will showcase and evaluate their development and future. Consortia 2019 will provide opportunity for discussion on how blockchain and DLT are impacting trade finance and the business opportunities these new technologies offer to banks, funders, SMEs, government bodies, trade bodies and corporates etc.

2019 Speakers

Baptiste Audren
Head of Product and Business Development, komgo

Khushnama Davar
Director, Trade Product Management, HSBC (Voltron)

Mariana Gomez de la Villa
Distributed Ledger Technology Program Director, ING

Bob Gravestijn
Business Developer, ABN AMRO Commercial Banking

Juan-Jose Ruiz
Head of Strategy and Business Development, TradeLens, IBM Industry Platforms (Tradelens Maersk)

Mirka Skrzypczak
Head of Working Capital & Trade, RBS (marco polo)

Andrew Speers
Director, Product and Innovation, Natwest (Voltron)

Duncan Wong
CEO, CryptoBLK (Voltron)

Kris Van Broekhoven
Global Head of TTS Commodity Trade Finance, Citi

Valerie von Lucke
Group Development & Strategy, Commerzbank AG (Marco Polo)

Enrico Camerinelli
Senior Analyst, Aite Group

Markus Ament
CEO and Co-Founder, Centrifuge

Cécile Leruste
MD, European Banking

Eva Degenhart
Partner, MH Corporate Finance GmbH

Cillian Leonowicz
Director, Head of Business Development, Deloitte EMEA Blockchain Lab

Deepesh Patel
Director of Partnerships and Marketing, Trade Finance Global

Neil Ross
Global Head Trade Credit, AIG

Emmanuel Marchal
Managing Director, ConsenSys (Komgo)

Yair Zehavi
CPO & Founder, INVIOU

Anthony Woolley
Head of UK innovation UK, Societe Generale

Emmanuelle Ganne
Senior Analyst, World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Martin McCann
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Trade Ledger

Hans Huber
Senior DLT Project Lead, Commerzbank, (R3)

Christoph Gugelmann
CEO and Co-Founder, Tradeteq Ltd

Genevieve Leveille
Founder, AgriLedger

Nils Behling
CFO Tradeteq Limited

Qamar Saleem
Global Technical Lead, SME Banking Practice, IFC

David Pepper
Project Lead, Provenance

Daniele Gnagnarella
Business Development Manager, we.trade

Shona Tatchell
CEO and Founder, Halotrade

Parm Sangha
GBS Europe Blockchain Leader, IBM (we.trade)

Geoffrey Wynne
Partner, Sullivan & Worcestor

Fernando Lardes
Network Banking Lead, we.trade

Iain MacLenann
VP, Corporate Banking- Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Finastra

Michelle Chivunga
Chair International/Foreign Affairs Committee/Senior Regional Advisor (Africa), British Blockchain Association (BBA)

James Buckley
Vice President & Head of Infosys Finacle, Europe

Hitesh Sachdev
Head, Startup Engagement & Investments, ICICI Bank

Alexander Malaket
President, OPUS Advisory Services

Frances Dean
COO, VAKT

Patrik Zekkar
Global Head of Trade Finance & Working Capital Management, Nordea

Adi Ben-Ari
Founder/CEO, Applied Blockchain

Dave Sutter
Head of Platform Strategy, TradeIX

2019 Partners

• Komgo
• Marco Polo
• TFD Initiative
• Trade Information Network
• Vakt
• Voltron
• We Trade

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS:
• FCI
• ITFA
• CFEC
• European Bank
• British Blockchain Association
• BAFT

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS:
• applied blockchain

MEDIA PARTNERS:
• Cointelegraph
• Crixfeed
• Fintech Finance
• Fintech Weekly
• IFA
• Ledger Insights
• Trade Finance Global
• Trf News
• WealthTech Club