Background

• threezero is an original toy brand based in Hong Kong that designs, develops, manufactures and sells high-end collectible figures
• For over 20 years, threezero has been using Tradelink's Government Electronic Trading Services to submit trade compliance documents to the Hong Kong Government such as Import & Export Trade Declarations, Certificate of origin, etc.
• To closely follow the prevailing market trends, threezero has to develop new toy products in a timely manner yet such research and development work requires a lot of investment

Challenges

• To facilitate business development, threezero used to apply for loans from traditional banks but it usually took up to several months for banks to process their loan applications that often involved back-and-forth document submissions and questions and answers
• Facing cash flow challenge, reluctantly, threezero has to delay some of their new development plans and missed out on the market opportunities

Solutions

• Invited by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to join its Commercial Data Interchange ("CDI") initiative as a data provider, Tradelink, with the consent of our customers, shares customers' import & export trade declaration data with financial institutions to facilitate their loan approval process
• As a statutory document, an import & export declaration lodged by our customers provides reliable reference information reflecting the operation status of their businesses. Such information includes:
  • Goods imported / exported with quantity and values of trade
  • Trading country (importing / exporting country)
  • Trading partners
  • Years of import / export business
• With the consent from threezero provided via CDI, Tradelink shares their declaration data with PAO Bank Limited ("PAObank") as alternative data that facilitates credit assessment of threezero for loan approval
• With PAObank's unique credit assessment model, threezero was able to secure trade finance in an efficient manner within 5 days without having to go through a lengthy and document-heavy process

Benefits

• The processing time for loan approval can be shortened from months to days
• Maintain healthy cash flow to facilitate business development and seize business opportunities
• Customers' trade declaration data can be better utilized and with its value enhanced that can benefit Hong Kong's trade business