June 15, 2023
Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks today announced the implementation of an industry first, e-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) solution. Axis Bank is the first bank to have designed, developed, and delivered fully digitized Bank Guarantees, in collaboration with SWIFT India and with GAIL being the first corporate to have gone live on the solution.
The e-BG solution automates the process to issue and consume Bank Guarantees digitally, eliminates the need for physical documents, works for both e-stamped and physically stamped guarantees and aligns with global ISO standards. The e-BG solution is an end-to-end Bank Guarantee journey covering issuance, advising, amendment & invocation – all of which enable secure, transparent and seamless transactions. Bank Guarantee using e-BG are seamlessly transmitted on the secured SWIFT India network and to the beneficiary’s ERP.
Speaking on this launch, Mr. Vivek Gupta, President & Head - Wholesale Banking Product, Axis Bank said, "Axis Bank has always been at the forefront of leading digital initiatives in Transaction Banking - as we strongly believe that digitization drives efficiency in the value chain. We are pleased to lead the industry in digitizing transaction banking with addition of e-advising of domestic bank guarantees for GAIL(India) Ltd , leveraging the SWIFT India network. Simplifying customer experience has always been our endeavor and it was our pleasure to work along with GAIL (India) Ltd on this digitization journey. The solution will address critical aspects such as seamless track & trace of bank guarantees, reduced transaction turnaround time & chances of fraud."
Mr. Kiran Shetty, CEO, Swift India said “We congratulate Axis Bank for its pioneering efforts in digitizing Bank Guarantees using SWIFT India’s messaging channel in India with GAIL. We are excited to work together with Axis bank & GAIL in driving the STP journey towards paperless trade finance in India with global, by not just eliminating tedious paperwork but also ensuring seamless operations over the lifecycle of a Bank Guarantee including issuance, amendment, invocation, and release of the bank guarantee. With this new solution, Axis Bank will be able to service its customers using globally established trade ISO standards, drastically reducing turnaround time. With the foundation now laid by Axis Bank and GAIL, we aim at creating an ecosystem for digital, secured, and frictionless messaging solutions in the country and support financial institutions and corporates realise their trade digitization goals.”
