Supporting the orderly resumption of production and work of small and medium-sized enterprises is a widespread concern of the society under the epidemic situation. Recently, the ministry of industry and information technology issued the notice on the use of new generation of information technology to support epidemic prevention and control and the resumption of work (hereinafter referred to as the notice), which clearly deployed the use of the Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other new generation of information technology to speed up the resumption of work.

Industry insiders said that although blockchain technology is in the early stage of application exploration, its application in supply chain finance is relatively mature. Under the epidemic situation, the use of blockchain technology to develop online supply chain financial services can also play a positive role in helping smes to resume work and production. By taking advantage of the technical characteristics of blockchain, which can be traced, tampering and sharing of accounts is difficult, it can effectively solve the problems of credit transmission, information fraud and other pain points in the existing supply chain financial system, so as to accelerate the activation of funds, improve service efficiency, and provide more financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chain.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chain to ease the pressure

The sudden outbreak of the new crown pneumonia has brought great challenges to the production and operation of the vast number of small, medium and micro enterprises. Compared with large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises have a weak ability to resist risks and are deeply affected by the epidemic in the short term.

According to their telephone interviews with some small and medium sized customers, most of them said they were affected by the epidemic in the short term, mainly due to the delay in returning to work, blocked production and marketing plans, and delayed remittance, officials from rose-dashu financial, an online technology platform for supply chain finance, told the financial times. Many enterprises not only want to return to work as soon as possible to reduce losses, but also worry about the risk of epidemic spread, there is a dilemma.

More significantly, delays in the return of small and medium-sized enterprises pose some challenges to a stable operating supply chain. Song hua, deputy dean of the school of business of renmin university of China, said, on the one hand, small and medium-sized enterprises that cannot operate normally in the upstream and downstream cause the stability of supply chain operation. On the other hand, export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises are affected by the epidemic, the threat of falling orders is greater, export pressure will also increase. These conditions, in turn, will further increase the financial pressure on other small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain, thus making the whole supply chain face great challenges.

Still have the inside business insider to say frankly, the enterprise on the supply chain is close a link, the financing of a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises involves the payment days problem of receivable mostly. Under the impact of the epidemic, payment days of some upstream enterprises of small and medium-sized enterprises will be prolonged. In this case, these small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to have the problem of capital chain break. If this problem is not properly solved, it will be transmitted to the suppliers in the downstream of the supply chain, further affecting the resumption of work and production of enterprises.

In order to support smes to resume production and operation as soon as possible and the normal and orderly operation of supply chain, efficient and accurate supply chain financial services are essential. Song hua said that in the special period of the epidemic, the risk assessment and management of traditional lending has been difficult to adapt to the requirements of current financial activities, which will promote financial institutions to accelerate the transformation of supply chain finance services, make full use of the Internet, modern new communication technology, and develop online digital supply chain finance.

Blockchain improves the efficiency of supply chain financial services

Exploring the application of block chain technology can effectively improve the service breadth and precision of supply chain finance.

In Mr Song's view, effective supply chain finance for smes must be based on timely, transparent, traceable and linked management. The block chain technology is used to enable the supply chain financial system, which can solve the problems of difficult credit transmission, information fraud and other pain points in the supply chain financial business, and then deliver more efficient and accurate financing services to the small and micro enterprises at the lower level of the chain, so as to ease their financial pressure and facilitate the resumption of production.

The personage inside course of study told the financial times reporter, in fact, the traditional supply chain core enterprise financial services on counterpoising truly, but some of the credit of the core enterprise layer upon layer, whether the electronic ticket or inventory, in general only to 1 or 2 chains belong to supplier, and supplier of long tail it is often difficult to obtain financing, limited service scope, capital efficiency also needs to be promoted.

Technical data is not tampered with, chain blocks, chain can be traced back, digital encryption and other features, is very suitable for participating in the supply chain finance business scenario, through this kind of sharing books characteristics of traceability, can complete multistage trust transfer, at the same time guarantee the authenticity of the data and trade scene, so that the chain on the financing of more small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain timely and effective services, solve the problem of capital turnover.

Under the epidemic situation, financial institutions have launched online supply chain financial services to relieve the financing difficulties of smes in the supply chain. According to the financial times, financial institutions, fintech companies and some core enterprises in the supply chain have begun to explore the use of blockchain and other digital technologies to help improve the efficiency of financial services in the supply chain, stabilize the operation of the supply chain and help small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain prevent epidemics. For example, a technology developed on the basis of block chain supply chain financial service platform, based on the core enterprise of accounts payable, the core enterprise contract with the supplier chain on the whole chain, so as to make the supply chain of interlocking trade relations can be clearly demonstrated, Banks and core enterprise can more clearly assessment of supplier's real situation, thus to provide credit support for its as soon as possible, ensure subsequent return to work and production of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The application of the technology is still in the exploratory stage

Due to the characteristics of the technology itself, blockchain has a wide range of application advantages in the transaction of financial assets. Supply chain finance is recognized as a better application direction of blockchain and more mature than other directions. However, some people in the industry warn that the blockchain technology is still in the exploration and development stage, and the further integration of "blockchain + supply chain financial services" still has a long way to go.

According to the white paper on block chain application in China's logistics and supply chain industry in 2019 released by the block chain application branch of the China federation of logistics and purchasing, the block chain industry has developed rapidly in the past three years, but few projects have been implemented. Among them, logistics and supply chain finance are the biggest landing scenarios of blockchain application, but they are relatively fragmented and lack scale effect.

In order to better play the role of blockchain in multiple segments such as supply chain finance, it is more important to promote the healthy and orderly development of blockchain technology. To guide the healthy development of blockchain, it is necessary to recognize the systematic, long-term and complex characteristics of the application of blockchain technology, according to a recent article by the blockchain research group of the digital currency research institute of the people's bank of China. At present, whether the blockchain can match the actual accounts and security compliance of the chain is the focus of the industry. All parties involved should comprehensively consider market development, risk management and control, legal compliance and other requirements from multiple dimensions, so as to realize chain linkage, combination of technology and business, innovation and management, so as to give full play to the digital potential of "block chain +".

Source: China financial news