Maritime blockchain consortium Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) has completed a proof-of-concept project with HSBC to apply confidential computing technology using data clean rooms to exchange trade finance data.
Banks typically require information on various aspects of a client’s business when agreeing to provide financing, examining their working capital cycle, trade routes, counterparties, or other data that can often only be obtained from paper documents such as bill of ladings, invoices and contracts.
The proof-of-concept between GSBN and HSBC trialled an alternative method that allows the aggregation of shipping records across shipping lines through the use of a data ‘clean room’, provided by technology partner Decentriq.
For the proof-of-concept, synthetic shipment details provided by carriers via GSBN were aggregated and processed in the clean room, allowing HSBC to access the statistics to examine customers’ shipping activities, such as number of shipments, distribution of cargo nature, and average cargo quantity.
The aggregation process removes sensitive or unnecessary information, displaying only required data to the bank for its assessment, while the combined use of blockchain and confidential computing technologies provides security throughout the data lifecycle.
“This latest collaboration with HSBC demonstrates GSBN’s unique position not only as a trusted data utility platform, but also as a liaison between banks, carriers and other stakeholders to explore new value-adding applications,” said Bertrand Chen, CEO at GSBN.
“We will continue to collaborate with our members and partners to expand the applications of confidential computing technology.”
