UAE Anglo Gulf Trade Bank first fully digital bank utilizes Blockchain

Anglo Gulf Trade Bank, better known as AGTB Holdings is a joint venture between Rowland Family controlled company and Mubadala Investment Company. AGTB headquartered in Abu Dhabi UAE is the first fully fledged digital bank headquartered in ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market)

AGTB seems to address the trade finance gap, left by incumbent trade banking models and FinTech platforms. In the context of today’s dynamic marketplace and globalization, corporate banking and trade finance are fundamentally broken.

The bank endeavors to simplify and supply clientcentric trade banking propositions by combining FinTech expertise, new technologies and the courage to reimagine corporate trade banking. The aim is to offer automated operational flexibility, data integration and advanced analytics in an accessible, real-time and transparent manner.

According to their website, with a best-in-class, 100% digital banking architecture, they will offer a broad range of digital payments, multi-currency accounts, FX and other transaction services to corporates and fintech firms in the UAE and the ADGM in particular.

AGTB is utilizing blockchain and cloud computing to drive their transformative approach. In an article in Global Finance Magazine Daniel Gould Deputy CEO of AGTB stated, As the world’s first fully digital corporate trade bank, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB) has set out to disrupt the world of trade and address the global trade-finance gap, estimated to be worth $1.5 trillion. Using a “transformative approach” based on cloud computing, blockchain-enabled platforms, API-driven architecture and advanced real-time data analytics, AGTB aims to simplify and supply accessible trade financing to segments of the market that are underserved by traditional trade finance providers.”

AngloGulf Trade Bank is founding partner of Marco Polo Blockchain network in MENA as well as a partner of tradeIX, first open platform for trade finance. In addition to partnering with Microsoft.

ATGB has simplified the client journey in trade, replacing paper-based processes with standardized digitized documents. “Think of how often the same document template is reused by a company, day after day,” says Gould. “An invoice template is filled for each sale; a supplier form is filled for each order. By embracing a digital platform, companies can reduce accidental errors, lower cases of malicious fraud, speed up processing and unlock the benefits of information, which corporates often sit on without realizing its value. All in all, massive time and money benefits.”

Gould says supportive regulatory environments that embrace transformative digital solutions are important for trade finance, which is one of the reasons the new digital trade bank is headquartered in Abu Dhabi Global Market, an international financial center on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi.

“Abu Dhabi Global Markets fosters an environment for digital innovation through a flexible and progressive regime,” says Gould. And thanks to its flexible operating model, Gould says AGTB can work with companies in jurisdictions where the level of digitization is low. “We can tailor the level of digitization of processes that clients can take on for regulatory or other reasons,” he explains.