Chongqing pioneers China's first single-document trade financing
The Chongqing branch of Industrial Bank has executed China's first single-document trade financing transaction, converting in-transit goods into usable funds to ease businesses' cash flow pressures.
This landmark transaction was valued at 5.9 million yuan ($854,840).
The initiative follows the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the "Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents" (NCD Convention) in late 2025, which established the property rights for railway waybills and other transport documents and addressed the persistent issue of missing cargo rights certificates in rail-sea transport.
By utilizing blockchain and IoT technologies, the bank has developed a credit system that links cargo ownership, logistics, and bank financing. Blockchain technology provides reliable documentation and facilitates real-time sharing of cargo information, logistics routes, and ownership status.
The solution achieves two significant breakthroughs over traditional models. First, it eliminates transportation barriers by integrating railway, maritime, and port documents into a single, unified document, ensuring "one-time issuance, full-course validity". Second, it connects financial and logistics data, enabling dynamic interaction between logistics nodes — such as departure and arrival — and financial services including approval, disbursement, and repayment.
The single-document financial service lowers financing thresholds, overcoming traditional credit restrictions for SMEs, such as lack of collateral and insufficient credit history.
The loan process has also been streamlined, enabling enterprises to submit documents and financing applications online. Banks now conduct reviews digitally, eliminating the need for repeated in-person communications.
A local official said that authorities will prioritize key areas such as transportation, customs clearance, finance, and dispute resolution to accelerate the implementation of localized measures under the convention.
