HSBC to give Unilever’s small suppliers quick loan

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Ltd has joined hands with Unilever Bangladesh Ltd to float a new platform styled ‘HSBC Supply Chain Finance (HSCF)’ to provide digital service to customers to save time for business.

The HSCF has started providing capital finance at competitive prices to Unilever Bangladesh and its network of suppliers, said a press release on Saturday.

The HSCF is also capable to reduce manual errors to ensure doing the trade, the release said.

However, the proposition is Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) friendly as suppliers do not need to set up a credit limit or need to change their current banking providers, it added.

The HSCF, which benefits both the banks’ customers and their trade partners through automation and enhanced serviceability. The solution digitises the end-to-end process of financing the invoices raised by Unilever Bangladesh’s suppliers. No manual intervention is required from approval of the invoices to crediting the proceeds to suppliers' account, the release further said.

Md. Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO HSBC Bangladesh said, “We see digitising Unilever Bangladesh’s supply chain finance as an enormous opportunity to make doing business easier not only for our customers, but their suppliers too.”

“The ability to offer competitive working capital finance across an entire supply chain means we can deliver a better experience and add value, especially to SMEs who can realise the greater potential from the speed and simplicity of our digital services. I would like to thank Unilever for this partnership and we are thrilled to introduce these benefits to the Bangladeshi market,” the CEO said.

KedarLele, Chairman and Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh Limited, said, “We are happy to partner with HSBC who has brought such innovative solution which will yield robust and cost-effective financial services. Most importantly, it will allow our small and medium suppliers access to finance at highly competitive rates.”