Contour Innovation Lab Will Focus On Digital B2B Trade Finance

With global trade starting to recover from the pandemic, Contour is operating a new lab collaborating with banks and corporates, among others, to work on digital-native trade finance, a Wednesday (June 30) press release said.

Future of Finance Lab, based in Singapore, will address inefficiencies by simplifying workflows and making trade more accessible, the release stated.

Global trade is estimated to grow by 8 percent in 2021 after being ravaged by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of Contour’s work will involve an end-to-end trade service, letting businesses, financiers and partners interact seamlessly across a financial and physical supply chain, the release said.

In addition, Contour also plans to go into other trade finance areas and has formed a new in-house team, which is expected to double in size in the next year, according to the press release.

Carl Wegner, CEO at Contour said, “With the launch of the Future of Finance Lab, we are excited to further ramp up our innovation efforts as we develop the digital infrastructure for the industry, making trade more accessible, simple and efficient for all. Singapore is the perfect environment for innovation, and we look forward to collaborating with our network both locally and globally as we work together to build the future of trade.”

Singapore was chosen because of a combination of its environment for innovation, friendly regulations and a FinTech ecosystem that has been flourishing as of late. Sopnendu Mohanty, chief FinTech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the organization believes “that various digital solutions and connectors interoperating seamlessly can make trade borderless, more efficient and hence, accelerate the recovery of global trade.”

Contour recently completed a blockchain transaction between two textile companies. Wegner said at the time that this showed the future of trade, in which paper processes would go the way of the dinosaur in favor of newer digital methods.