StanChart, Infor Scale Data For Easier Payments

International banking group Standard Chartered is partnering with business cloud software firm Infor to digitize the financial supply chain, the companies said in a press release on Thursday (Feb. 6). 

The strategic agreement launches the Infor Nexus network to the bank’s clients. By digitizing the financial supply chain, “businesses can minimize supply chain delays and friction, while suppliers can benefit from improved access to capital,” the release said.

“Invoice approvals in a traditional non-automated environment often take weeks to complete, putting a squeeze on suppliers and bringing contention to the buyer-supplier relationship,” Rod Johnson, general manager and head of Americas at Infor, said in a statement. “Slow invoice matching delays the trade financing cycle, preventing suppliers from obtaining the capital they need to deliver quality and compliant goods on time.”

The Infor Nexus network converts manual data processes of data matching across purchase orders, invoices and transport documents to speed up trade financing cycles. This gives suppliers the ability to get fast capital at important turning points in the transaction cycle.

“While large corporates have achieved some level of automation through sophisticated enterprise resource planning systems, around 80 percent of data used in matching are sourced from documents residing with external parties,” said Michael Sugirin, global head of open account trade product management, Standard Chartered in the release. 

“This manual matching process is time-consuming, often resulting in a delay of the trade financing cycle which impacts the supplier’s ability to meet their working capital needs, most of whom tend to be small and medium-sized businesses. This strategic partnership addresses this gap and reduces capital-related costs and risk from the supply chain,” Sugirin added.

Under the agreement, Standard Chartered will refer clients to Infor and its Infor Nexus network, based on specific needs. The network offers automated matching and digitized documentation.

Sugirin added: “As our client’s trusted banking partner, our goal is to support them in their digitalization journey through expediting their payables acceptance and facilitating export proceeds, and as a result improve their working capital cycles.”

The proliferation of real-time payments around the globe has had serious implications for liquidity management.