Italian business information leader CRIF invests in fintech platform we.trade

Italian business information leader CRIF has invested in the we.trade platform, with which it has also signed a strategic alliance.

we.trade has developed a digital trading platform based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric and runs on the IBM Blockchain platform. In March 2019, Unicredit successfully executed the first commercial transaction in Italy leveraging blockchain technology, using the we.trade platform. 

Read more about the platform we. trade and the latest investment received from CRIF and find the latest finance news in the world with the Born2Invest mobile app.

we.trade was founded in 2017

Founded in January 2017 under the provisional name Digital Trade Chain and later renamed we.trade, the company was initially a consortium of 7 European banks (Deutsche Bank, Hsbc Kbc, Natixis, Rabobank, Société Générale, and Unicredit), which were later joined by Nordea and Banco Santander All the banks participating in the consortium and using we.trade in December 2017 then created a joint venture company that owns the platform and was christened we.trade innovation DAC. After the decision of the banks in the consortium to set up the company, other banks, in addition to the giant IBM, joined the project. we.trade is therefore participated by IBM, CRIF and 12 banks (including CaixaBank, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group, HSBC, KBC, Nordea, Rabobank, Santander, Sociéte Générale, UBS, and UniCredit). In addition, ČSOB, Komerční Banka, and Česká Spořitelna are licensees in the Czech Republic.

Through the partnership with CRIF, we.trade will further strengthen its offering with the integration of CRIF’s Skyminder services, which provide access to in-depth financial, commercial, and credit information on over 230 million companies worldwide. By being part of this strategic alliance, CRIF has become a shareholder in we.trade along with IBM and 12 existing banking shareholders.

“We are very pleased that CRIF is joining we.trade as an additional investor, helping to further broaden the ecosystem. CRIF’s market-leading business information and rating services perfectly complement we.trade’s vision of making business transactions easier for buyers and sellers. We are excited to work with CRIF to take a step forward in our development path,” said Omer Ahsan, Chairman of we.trade.

Carlo Gherardi, CEO of CRIF, commented: “The integration between the we.trade platform and CRIF’s information ecosystem will bring significant added value to all stakeholders thanks to our information assets, analytical capabilities and state-of-the-art technologies. In a phase characterized by the explosion of the digital economy, thanks to this operation CRIF will integrate its knowledge and skills with an innovative and leading player in trade finance platforms. CRIF and we.trade will create synergies that will help companies meet their challenges, making it easier and safer for buyers and sellers to trade globally.”

CRIF is currently Europe’s leading provider of banking and credit information and one of the world’s leading players in integrated business and commercial information systems, credit management and marketing. Founded in Bologna in 1988, today it operates in 4 continents and has more than 6,300 banks and financial companies and 55,000 corporate clients in more than 50 countries. In addition, for the sixth year in a row Crif has been cited in the prestigious IDC FinTech ranking, ranking 50th in the world and at the top among Italian companies in 2019.

In April 2020, the company placed in private placement to Pricoa Private Capital (Prudential Financial group) a new $36 million (€30 million) bond within the $125 million (or euro equivalent) shelf facility agreement signed in 2016. In November 2020, Crif and American Express signed a partnership in open banking with the aim of accelerating the digital transformation of consumer and business customers. Crif closed 2019 with consolidated revenues of nearly $677 million (€560 million) in 2019, up from $615.7 million (€509.2 million) in 2018, when it reported $104 million (€86.1 million) in ebitda, against net financial debt of $176.9 million (€146.3 million).

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(Featured image by Tumisu via Pixabay)

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First published in Be Beez, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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