CCEWeb Signs European Deal
Plans Full Launch in Early 2003

Toronto-based CCEWeb Corp has signed a strategic alliance with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) Germany, as systems providers race to develop electronic, paperless trading frameworks.

 

CCEWeb said the deal means CGEY will market, pilot and integrate CCEWeb’s  internet-based trade processing and document management system in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, introducing CCEWeb’s @GlobalTrade™ secure payment and trade management System to importers, exporters, banks and trade service providers.

 

The @GlobalTrade product enables the issuance of electronic letters of credit (l/cs) and presentation of electronic and/or paper documents to the processing bank, while allowing authorised parties to track the progress of transactions online in real time.

 

The system has already been put through trials with banks in Europe, North America and Asia, including a trial extending from April to August 2001 (ITF 385/4).  The latest of these – which have involved all parties to a trade transaction – was completed in March 2002. 

 

A commercial launch is now planned “for January 2003,” ITF was told by Jacob Katsman, CCEWeb’s chief executive.  “Due to 9/11 and the general NASDAQ crash we felt that there was no rush to come to market.  It made more sense to perfect the product and refine the business model,” he said, adding that other alliances “are in the works, with major industry players.”

 

Mr Katsman said that @GlobalTrade is the first online business solution designed under the requirements of the eUCP, the electronic supplement to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) universally-used UCP500 rules for documentary credits (ITF 404/6). 

 

Distinguishing the product

 

He said that there are no membership fees for @GlobalTrade participants, and that users would be charged transaction fees, depending on what systems the banks have and what trade workflow products are being used, such as letters of credit, collections, open account or cash in advance.”

 

Mr Katsman said CCEWeb’s system distinguished itself from competing systems, such as bolero.net.  “Banks think that Bolero’s pricing is too high for the market”, he said, noting the annual membership fees and set-up costs involved for connection and use of the bolero.net “core Messaging Platform.”

 

CCEWeb has also noted that bolero is focused on larger corporations and multinationals, whereas the @GlobalTrade system caters for small and large users alike.  TradeCard, on the other hand, is seen as lacking many accepted trade finance market practices and standards.

 

ChevronTexaco, one of @GlobalTrade’s pilot users, has praised the product’s accessibility.  Users require only a  browser and Adobe Acrobat reader software, and the electronic images of the documents strongly resemble their paper equivalents, according to Ron Wells, a credit executive with ChevronTexaco Global Trading.

 

CCEWeb intends to provide a pilot run for all trial users, allowing them to gauge the system and generating the feedback necessary to add fine-tunings to @GlobalTrade.

 

Mr Katsman would not divulge CCEWeb’s strategy to raise the profile of the product.  The company has representatives in different parts of the world, including Singapore, to market to companies and banks.

 

[ International Trade Finance – June 2002 ]