On October 12th, Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter, “Marubeni”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (hereinafter, “MOU”) with Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd. (hereinafter, “Zall”), a Hong Kong-listed and leading B to B e-trade platform provider in China regarding collaboration in providing online trade finance services to Commodities Intelligence Centre Pte Ltd. (hereinafter, “CIC”), a Singapore-based subsidiary of Zall to operate a cross-border B to B e-trade platform in Singapore.

CIC is the first cross-border B to B e-trading platform in Singapore that was jointly established by Zall, Global eTrade Services Asia Pte. Ltd. (hereinafter,“GeTS”), an e-trading service provider based in Singapore and Singapore Exchange Ltd. (hereinafter, “SGX”) in May 2018 and started commercial operation this October. CIC is expected to facilitate cross-border trade by directly matching small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China and overseas suppliers/trading companies on its e-trading platform. Commodities like sugar, cotton, steel, chemicals, etc. are the main items trading on the CIC platform. CIC aims to accelerate global trading by integrating Zall’s supply chain management expertise and network with SMEs in China and GeTS’s logistics and cross-border trade management technology, including its open trade blockchain technology.

In addition to a traditional online B to B marketplace, by offering online trade finance services to CIC’s platform, Marubeni and ZALL aim to provide low-cost and easy access to SMEs in China which could not easily access overseas markets directly before.

Marubeni intends to acquire new business advantages related to B to B online trade finance and contribute to the expansion of global trade transactions through this collaboration.

＜Outline of Zall＞

Corporate name	:	Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd.
Head office	:	Wuhan, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China
Representative	:	Yan Zhi, Yu Gang (Co-chairman of the board)
Establishment	:	1996
Business	:	Operation of B to B wholesale platforms in China, Provision of supply chain services
HP	:	www.zallcn.com

＜Outline of CIC＞

Corporate name	:	Commodities Intelligence Centre Pte. Ltd.
Head office	:	Singapore
Representative	:	Peter Yu (CEO)
Establishment	:	May 2018
Shareholders	:	Zall Interconnection (BVI) Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Zall),  Global eTrade Services Asia Pte. Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd., which is a joint venture of PSA, the biggest port operator in Singapore, and Enterprise Singapore), and  Asian Gateway Investment Pte. Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of SGX)
Business	:	Operation of a global B to B e-trading platform in Singapore
HP	:	www.cic-tp.com