Esker announces partnership to develop a supply chain financing solution in ASEAN and Greater China

Issued by Global Research Partners for SPI Group
Johannesburg, 08 Nov 2017

SPI, the African distributor for utility software products and services to the Open Systems segment of the IT industry and the Southern African reseller for Esker, a leader in document process automation solutions, today announced that the latter has launched an innovative supply chain financing solution in Asia in partnership with Jing King Tech Group (JK Tech), a fintech company whose business includes payment solutions, transaction security and services for the banking sector. Announced in Singapore the joint venture will connect Esker's e-invoicing platform to a group of banking partners including UOB, Singapore's second largest bank.

Efficient supply chain financing is increasingly becoming a key factor of competitiveness for modern economies, and therefore, a fundamental driver for growth and development. This is particularly true in Southeast Asia and China where economic growth is particularly dynamic and future competitiveness can no longer exclusively be based on lower costs. The use of digital technologies to streamline supply chain financing is therefore an important topic not only for companies of all sizes but also for governments in the region.

To meet these challenges, Esker has aligned with its existing partner JK Tech on a fintech initiative. The two companies will market NEMO, a 100% cloud-based supply chain finance solution that connects Esker's comprehensive order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay automation solutions to a group of banking and funding partners in China and Southeast Asia. The growing list of partners will include banking institutions and alternative financing platforms. NEMO has received support from the Singapore government which is deeply involved in helping organisation embrace digital technologies to enhance productivity and competitiveness.

Thanks to NEMO, companies will be able to finance their accounts receivable, and better control cash flow with their suppliers, while giving them access to a flexible and secure source of financing (reverse factoring principle). These processes, today cumbersome and expensive to implement, will be automated and carried out online through NEMO. Using NEMO, the supplier of a company will, for example, be able to request the advance payment of one or more of its invoices within the portal.
Specifics about the joint venture will be finalised in the coming months.

For further information, please contact Chris Anderson at tel. +27 11 234 1560; fax +27 11 234 1387; e-mail chris@spi.co.za

Jing King Tech Group

Jing King Tech Group is a fintech and business process outsourcing (BPO) company headquartered in Singapore. It was founded in 1984 as a smart card factory and has grown rapidly into a Top 10 smart card manufacturer in the world, delivering high-quality smart cards and solutions to customers around the globe. JK Tech is a market leader with more than 20 years of BPO experience handling secure data management, processing and printing for major banks, financial institutions, corporate and government bodies. The company's automated solutions and services business offer trusted solutions and services through a wide range of innovative products like virtual teller machines (VTMs), self-service kiosks and biometric-enabled solutions for on-boarding and payment services

Esker

Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software. Organisations of all sizes use its shared platform of solutions, offered on-demand or on-premises, to automate accounts payable, order processing, accounts receivable, purchasing and more. Esker's solutions are compatible with all geographic, regulatory and technology environments, helping over 11 000 companies around the world in their efforts to Quit Paper.

SPI

SPI is a company that provides utility software products and services to the Open Systems segment of the IT industry. It is the sole Sub-Saharan Africa distributor for USA-based Innovative Routines; USA-based Help/Systems; USA-based Linoma Software; France-based Esker; and; UK-based OpusVL (ex Xi Software). SPI also develops some of its own software utilities to complement the overseas products that it distributes.

SPI has a wide and varied customer base and includes organisations such as Aspen Pharmacare, Johannesburg Municipality, University of Johannesburg, MMI Holdings, Nampak, National Brands, Stellenbosch University and Unisa.

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