Standard Chartered & Tazapay sign MoU, offer digital escrow on Proxtera

By Leandra Monteiro

Standard Chartered recently announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with digital payments platform Tazapay. The MoU aims to deliver digital escrow services to buyers and sellers who want to trade globally on Proxtera, a business-to-business marketplace network.

As per the MoU, Standard Chartered will facilitate the opening of bank accounts required by Tazapay to receive and hold the escrow capital in both the buyers’ market and the escrow location and enable the flow of funds to the sellers once Tazapay receives evidence of delivery of goods from the parties.

According to media reports, Rahul Shinghal, CEO Tazapay shared, “Tazapay is committed to making cross-border commerce easier for SMEs. To do this most effectively means strengthening the ecosystem that supports them through partnership with other trusted players in trade and finance. We are pleased to collaborate with Standard Chartered and from here, work to provide SMEs the most safe, secure and easy way to hold and transfer funds via escrow. Together, we can offer better payment and financing options to SMEs, helping them to build trust with more trading partners and ultimately expand their businesses.”

According to media reports, Winston Nesfield, Programme Lead, Proxtera said, “Standard Chartered is one of original supporters and partners of Proxtera. As the leading banking major in Asia and Africa, it is great that they are joining as an Escrow Banker, while Tazapay operates as the Escrow Agent for Proxtera Protect. This partnership will open up Proxtera’s reach to Sub-Saharan Africa, given the existing broad network that Standard Chartered has there.”

The pilot transaction for the MoU will take place between Singapore and India after obtaining appropriate regulatory clearances, with more corridors to be added in due course.