MAS, IMDA to pilot real trades on cross-border SME digital platform

Fiona Lam

Published Mon, Nov 11, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

BUSINESS sans Borders (BSB), a cross-border digital trade platform experiment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), will be ramped up in the first half of next year, having completed its proof-of-concept (POC) stage, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

BSB connects platforms to help SMEs access a global ecosystem of buyers, sellers, logistics service providers, financing and digital solution providers. It uses artificial intelligence to enable SMEs to discover prices and sales opportunities, access supply chains, and source for and use digital and financial solutions.

Its second phase will trial real SME transactions on participating platforms, starting with those based in Singapore, the Philippines and India. For example, a machine-parts seller in Singapore will be able to offer his products to domestic and overseas buyers, and be matched with financial, logistics and business service providers.

The Singapore government will pilot some procurements via BSB for the second phase. The central bank of the Philippines will join BSB as a founding member, in collaborations on financial-sector issues.

The second phase is open to trade bodies, business-to-business and business-to-consumer platforms, fintech solution providers, SMEs and government agencies.

During the BSB's nine-month POC phase, conducted in collaboration with private-sector partners GlobalLinker, Mastercard, PwC, SAP and Yellow Pages, SMEs were matched with potential service providers to purchase value-added services from the BSB digital store, a repository of essential services to facilitate trade.

The POC also comprised a sandbox innovation space.

The first external platform to connect to the BSB Phase One POC system was a key Philippine platform from the Union Bank of Philippines and its fintech subsidiary, UBX.

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