Euro Exim Bank: Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Transform Financial Service Offerings
Euro Exim Bank (EEB) is an international financial institution headquartered in St. Lucia in the West Indies, holding a Class ‘A’ license, with a representative office in London.
EEB is expanding operations with offices being established in Singapore, Chennai and Dubai, positioned to take advantage of the continued rise in trade between the Middle East and the Far East and building sales resources in Africa and India. The company provides financial instruments for importers such as LC’s and SBLC’s. Furthermore, it offers Bank Guarantees for contractors and for those who need guarantees to on tenders. EEB is authorized to issue appropriate instruments, as well as Performance Bonds. Additionally, the bank has Online Bank Accounts with 24×7 availability, accessible globally as a corporate or personal savings accounts, and Merchant Accounts for international buyers and sellers using any card, with low rates, safe and secure transactions.
EEB has implemented new payment technology through participation with RippleNet. By using xCurrent, it has made real-time fully tracked payments possible without multiple routing or complex traditional correspondent bank relationships. With ODL (On-Demand Liquidity) services, clients benefit from unlimited low-cost access to liquidity using the XRP digital asset as the underlying currency for settlement.
Journey through Excellence
Euro Exim Bank was initially established as a small payment institution. However, with so many competitive offerings, operating margins were lean in payments markets where volume did not follow. The company has witnessed a gap in the market, facilitating global trade, issurance, and relay of trade finance instruments, namely Letters of Credit, Standby Letters of Credit, Performance Bonds, and Bank Guarantees.
It exclusively deals with registered corporates, having clients ranging geographically from China, India, UAE, Malaysia, Africa, and the Far East, importing goods from all over the globe. While many prominent banks are withdrawing from the market through de-risking and international trade policy due to complexity, fraud, and legal action, the market is strong, and EEB teamworks with smaller SME’s and corporates needing to transact trade instruments supporting import business.
Remarkable Accomplishments
EEB has been recognized for several major industry awards, including the Global Trade Review (GTR) “Best Technology Collaboration” award for work with Ripple, building on early adoption of RippleNet services, namely blockchain-enabled real-time seamless payments. Most recently, it garnered recognitions and accolades like one of the ’50 Most Trusted companies”, “Most Innovative Companies of the Year,” “10 Most influential Companies of the Year” from several esteemed Awarding bodies. The company has also been recognized for the third consecutive year by winning CFi’ Best Trade Finance Bank’ award. Moreover, EEB is confident of continuing the streak of receiving such appraisals for its outstanding work in the future too.
Learning from People, Market, and Life
The company’s CEO, Kaushik Punjani, graduated with a degree in Chemistry before pursuing a career in accountancy, manufacturing, global distribution, and later into the finance industry, as director and beneficial owner of Euro Exim Bank.
He actively participants in various conferences and his experience spans over online payment systems, confirmations, reconciliation. His early professional stances include covered management and delivery of financial solutions at the UK and international businesses at various levels. Besides, he is also a leading fundraiser for international charities, running concerts raising awareness and funds for projects in St. Lucia, Zimbabwe, India, and the UK.
Driving to New Heights through Innovation and Key Partnerships
EEB functions as a bank, rather than a software house, primarily focusing on useful applications for trade. Hence, it has developed its specific platform that handles the entire trade life-cycle and is entirely parameter-driven and designed to offer a unique business. This ensures that all client interactions are fully recorded, accounted, and streamlined, underpinned by blockchain and AI technologies.
As part of EEB’s ‘future-ready’ system capabilities, its internal Simplex trade platform incorporates DLT/Blockchain technology, with payment API. This provides the company with more automated, digitized, and integrated processes covering identity assurance, real-time company data access, PEP, and sanction lists with the benefits of full compliance and due diligence. When this is combined with EEB’s account facilities and merchant account payment products, it gives importers a means to pay in other currencies rapidly with a variety of funding options 24/7.
Kaushik ardently believes in imparting values like trust, leadership, experience, personal relationships, country expertise, speed of response, cost-effective instruments, and above all, continued contact and information sharing through EEB’s differentiators. EEB’s clients want to see people and build relationships and really appreciate speaking with named staff and meeting locally, all of which help maintain credibility and grow business.
Winning Over Business Complexities
Speaking about challenges Kaushik shares that initial challenges were the proliferation of paper, integrated workflow systems handling miscellaneous documents reflecting the variety of goods and sanctions, the increasing role of compliance and legal in due diligence, the burden of AML, KYC sanctions, and PEP checking, clean data capture, and full understanding of the complex trade ecosystem with all its players, processes, timings and expectations.
He points out that sustaining the business is another significant challenge too, especially with reduced staff, requiring the EEB team to work smarter, be even more aware of, and acting to combat increased competition. There are more regulatory compliance and due diligence demands, growing trade tariffs, protectionist policies, and wildly fluctuating FX rates and costs for procurement of fiat currency. The company also faces greater market and supply chain complexity, lack of trust, and shortage of liquidity, especially in emerging markets.
Fortunately, it has found solutions to these, through partnerships, working with local agents, collaborating with Ripple for real-time payments and liquidity, extending IT, and using blockchain and AI as an integral part of its compliance and legal programs.
At present, EEB is well-positioned to tackle change and minimize the effects and demands from ever-present external forces, fighting cybercrime, understanding, and reacting to constantly changing market with the addition of new regulation and governance and compliance.
Looking Ahead into Future
According to Kaushik, Euro Exim Bank has grown the business from a few trades of limited value to be a major player in international markets. The company is witnessing a surge in volumes, servicing more clients from many more countries, and has been linked with new accounts. And, with RippleNet’s real-time settlement driven by blockchain technology, EEB’s value proposition is growing annually.
This has resulted in providing instant recognition to the brand internationally, and retaining its leading position in conferences and publications in providing thought leadership, valued analysis, and access to experienced professionals.
