EURO EXIM BANK LTD

EURO EXIM BANK LTD Pioneering Financial Solutions, With Cutting- Edge Technologies

Kajal Dobhal | Business Connect

The recent lockdown for the COVID-19 outbreak has empowered the utilization of digital technology. With work from home, several national and multinational companies have operated remotely and created milestones. Among the many verticals, the financial sphere has significantly changed the way of handling and accessing accounts, through home banking. By investing in technology, many several banks devised digital solutions for customers that can be accessed via any smart devices.

Euro Exim Bank is a global financial institution, with targeted solution and services. The bank is infrastructured with notable innovations, leading the field in the finance sector as a sustainable business with strong management, international recognition, a broad skill-base and financial performance.

A PREFERABLE NAME ON THE GLOBE Euro Exim Bank is a sophisticated multinational financial institution, holding a class “A” licence. It is headquartered in Saint Lucia, West Indies, with a representative office in London. Euro Exim Bank was established in 2015, as a payment provider in the UK (SPI). In a while, the diminishing margins and crowded competitive nature of the business portrayed the need for a business model, with all kinds of targeted solutions. Spotting this gap in the market, the Company applied for an international regulated banking license in St. Lucia, under the strict auspices of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). This enabled them to provide the full range of banking services, with prime focus on trade finance.

The bank is fortified with an adept team of trade finance experts. These professionals have incurred huge exposure in areas of financial messaging, trade systems, etc. The USP of Euro Exim Bank is its prompt response and punctual conclusions. With innovative technology, the bank expeditiously generates first drafts, complex KYC (Know Your Customer) processes and sends instructions within tight timeframes. The bank has established affiliations in Singapore, Chennai and Dubai, stimulating operational expansion. This helps in building sales resources in Africa and India, also empowers the growing trade relations, between the Middle East and the Far East.

Navigating a safe passage through the myriad of players can be challenging for new market entrants, so companies need assistance with simplified processes and guaranteed payment corridors. Their wide variety of services, especially for corporates include: • Financial instruments facilitating trade for importers. • Bank Guarantee for Contractors. • Advance Payment Guarantee and Performance Bank Guarantees. • Online Bank Accounts. • Merchant Bank Accounts.

GRAHAM BRIGHT Head, Compliance & Operations

SUPREME QUALITY ASSURANCE Quality assurance plays a fundamental role in a Company’s growth, and Euro Exim Bank has no exception. They have a strict quality checking process where initial checks begin, as soon as the proforma invoice arrives, saving time and potential liability and embarrassment if not caught until later in the transaction process. Moreover, staff check throughout the issuance process using sophisticated workflow tools, from the first sight of a client proforma invoice until the final delivery of product or services, helps in ensuring the optimal standards. This helps in maintaining quality control for accountability, transparency, visibility and authority.

R&D significantly corroborates quality. Not just for client’s satisfaction but also to maintain the quality of an organisation’s components. EEB has implemented a regime of constant review and enhancement of the foundations of products regularly, ensuring that not only the client experience but the internal applications benefit from the introduction of trust and speed, at competitive rates.

TAILORED SOLUTIONS FOR A MULTILINGUAL CLIENTELE Euro Exim Bank has incorporated a multifaceted clientele from various geographical locations like China, India, UAE, Malaysia, Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Many examples of their exclusive clientele include importers of non-perishable foods to stock supermarkets, buyers of technology for re-manufacture into new industrial machinery, garment manufacturers, scrap metal collectors for re-manufacture into countless new products, people building agricultural machinery, and many others. In short, they have clients of all sorts from a variety of verticals.

This client base often meets collateral requirements placed on them by large institutions, imposing 110% of the value of trades to be locked in an escrow account for the time of the transaction. Since trades can carry up to 360 days, it creates a devastating effect that locks cash flow and makes it nearly impossible to compete or participate in open markets. To resolve this, EEB approaches with appropriate collateral requirements (with no less due diligence, compliance, KYC, AML checks). Using these measures, EEB assists buyers in handling multiple trades, each secured, safe, and trusted with specific terms applied.

The above situation is more pertinent in the African region as there is a traditional lack of trust, liquidity, local bank trade expertise and willingness to finance transactions. However, now, with ongoing US-China trade wars and other supply chains disrupted, the region is being eyed for raw materials with a new light, potentially super-ceding China as a prime supplier to the USA for several goods.

SYNCHRONIZED WITH ADEPT TECHNOLOGIES In a conscious collaboration between management, sales and IT, EEB has brought the industrial expertise to enhance their infrastructure. Their products are crafted on a cloud-based trade platform that allows them to, maintain and fully control risk profiles, utilize AI and automated processes for handling and digitizing management of trade documentation. The system covers the entire lifecycle of trades, from the first proforma invoice from the seller to settlement of the transaction up to one year later. Another accomplishment is their association with Ripple & xCurrent service for payments and ODL for solving liquidity problems. The products have assisted in switching from the local currency to digital assets (XRP) and paying out in local currency at the receiver end, which not only resolves the time issue of delivery and authenticity but also, solves the issue of switching into and out of expensive USD or EUR.

These services are significant for economies in Africa, as cash-challenged companies no longer need to wait days for their money to traverse correspondent banks with associated funding and dispersal costs from local accounts.

PRODUCTIVE AMID THE OUTBREAK In the mid of crisis, EEB has forayed the arena of trade finance with its services through the digital platform. With more people working through remote access, digital technology has seen an increased rate of users as people are urging for digitalized complex documents across the entire trade ecosystem. Being digitally upgraded to the trends, they have already mastered the platform and are striving to be a completely non-paper, digitally ready organisation. Through their services, EEB is aiming to evolve from the use of current ‘wet ink’ bills of lading to efficient, universally accepted, verified and trusted electronic versions.

AN INDOMITABLE BUSINESS MODEL EEB has a very strong and sustainable business model, facilitating the transactions that enable cross border trade, eventually remaining as an essential component in the supply chain. Their business model is further empowered by the partnership with RippleNet. The partnership has devised xCurrent and On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), to save time and mitigate risks. xCurrent directs cross-border payments into customer accounts without correspondent bank relationships or currency fluctuation. On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) minimizes liquidity costs, reducing cash flow issues, using XRP as the underlying digital asset, rather than switching into more expensive often restricted fiat currencies.

Trust, leadership, experience, personal “ relationships, country expertise, speed of response, cost-effective instruments and above all continued contact and information sharing, remain our ideals, which we have been able to translate a positive experience. - Mr Kaushik Punjani(Director). ”

By implementing innovative Ripple payment services, EEB has enabled the settlement of cross border transactions using XRP cryptocurrency. The service provides real-time financial exchange, surpassing the traditional 3-5

days for wire transfers. In these challenging times, EEB is standing as a major differentiator in providing clients appropriate collateral requirements to trade more competitively and efficiently, placing them ahead of cash-strapped competitors.

A DEXTEROUS WORKFORCE EEB has employed an apex team of specialists, who are versed in the arena of trade finance. To keep this team at the optimal state, the Company constantly trains them, as well as update them with the trends in the industry and the peripheral important topics, such as compliance, due diligence, sales practice, sanctions etc. This helps in developing the staff members’ interest, loyalty and expertise towards the business continuity, international, national and local implications of health issues and impacts on trade (i.e. Covid-19), regulation and sanctions. This ultimately makes EEB more vigilant in the fight against fraud, double invoicing, scams and money laundering.

Each staff gets the opportunity to grow their expertise, making their skills transferable and valuable across the various departments of the Company and in their future careers.

BESTOWED WITH NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS EEB has deliberately innovated the arena of trade finance by banking on technological platforms. By associating with Ripple, they have crafted blockchain-enabled, real-time seamless payment solutions like xCurrent and ODL; for which, they were bestowed with, “Best Technology Collaboration Award”, by Global Trade Review (GTR). In the melancholy caused by COVID-19, EEB has provided pioneering services for a global client base by utilizing digital technology.

They are also featured, in many internationally acclaimed business journals like UK Parliamentary Review, International Finance, The European, CIO Review, World Business Review, The CEO Story, among the rest, as the ‘50 Most Trusted companies’, ‘Most Innovative Companies of the Year’, 10 Most influential Companies of the Year’, and lot more. For their delivery and applications of ingenious solutions, they were recently nominated, as one of the ‘10 Best Fintech Solution Providers to watch out for in 2020’.

A WELL PLANNED FUTURE Within 5 years of inception, EEB has shown an admirable progression. Starting with 3 employees, the Company has incorporated an international workforce, steady revenue increase from targeted services, the value of the instruments EEB has been approached to issue over the years above 3 trillion dollars, geographic expansion and new offices with special projects.

Moving forward, EEB is aiming for sensible and agile management to ensure healthy revenue and profit growth. EEB is also planning to stimulate rapid sales team growth, more country coverage, technical enhancements to speed up instrument issuance processes, and accessing more clients in opportunistic emerging markets. With an incremental position in the market, EEB has opened doors to smaller currently disadvantaged companies. By providing appropriate trade initiation solutions, they are willing to create a competitive stature of these companies, in the international arena.

It is this depth of information, constantly changing requirements “ and desire to learn that sees every role as vitally important asserts Mr Punjani ”

KAUSHIK PUNJANI Director