Physical commodity trading · Geneva · Dubai · Houston · Singapore

Where is your cash, right now?

Chowa is the live cash and capital picture for mid-market physical commodity traders. One number, refreshed continuously, drawn from your existing systems. Cargoes, contracts, L/Cs, receivables, counterparty exposure, facility utilisation. Read-only. No CTRM replacement. Built to the standard a trade finance bank evaluates a borrower on.

Less trapped capital. Lower financing drag. More room to trade.

TRADE LIFECYCLEONE TRADE · ONE VIEW
01
CargoGasoil 10ppm · 35kt · in transit
TRACKED
02
ContractFOB Fujairah · CFR Mombasa · M+0/+5
TRACKED
03
SettlementPricing window open · 4 of 5 days
TRACKED
04
CounterpartyKPRL · A rated · 32% of book
TRACKED
05
ReceivablesT+62 usance · DSO 71d
TRACKED
06
Bank facilityENBD usance L/C · 84% drawn
TRACKED
07
Cash tied up$28.4M against this trade
TRACKED
08
Decision opportunityReduce draw 2 days early
ACT
One trade. $28.4M capital read across 8 stages.
LIVE

Sits on top of your existing CTRM and treasury systems. Agnostic to Aspect, Allegro, Euclid, or Excel. Read-only.

TOTAL CAPITAL · LIVE
$142M
CAPITAL LEDGER · LIVE·DXB DESK · MIDDLE DISTILLATES · FUEL OIL · JET
CARGOINVOICEBANK / FACILITYCOUNTERPARTYGO 10ppmMR · 35kt · Fuj→MombasaJet A1LR1 · 60kt · Ruwais→KarachiHSFO 380MR · 30kt · Fuj→SingaporeINV-25-0418$28.4M · NOR T+2INV-25-0421$54.1M · B/L T+1INV-25-0427$14.8M · pending B/LENBD · L/CUsance 90d · $40MMashreq · RBLRevolver · $75MKPRLMombasa · A ratedPSOKarachi · sov backedSGP bunker traderSGP · cash on B/LTRAPPED CAPITAL · LIVE READFUNDING GAP · PSO USANCE$5.4M· T+62
FACILITY HEADROOM · USANCE L/C · FORWARD 90D peak T+42 · $5.8M draw · ENBD
30d60d90d

Profitable trades can still trap cash.

Strong P&L. Tight cash. Three patterns repeat across trading desks, finance teams, and bank facilities.

01Timing gaps
T+0dT+15dT+30dT+45dCONTRACT SETTLESCASH RETURNSGAP+22d

Contracts settle before receivables come in.

Usance terms and voyage windows leave invoices sitting against drawn facilities for weeks.

02Financing drag
FACILITY LIMITDRAWNREQUIRED

Facilities run hot when they do not need to.

Lines drawn early and buffers stacked across desks. Credit usage that does not match the trade.

03No operating view
?DECISIONXLSXEMAILBANK PORTALERPPDF L/CSWIFTCSV

Capital lives in spreadsheets and bank portals.

Cargoes, invoices, settlements, and facility usage in different systems. Decisions on yesterday's data.

One operating view across the trade lifecycle.

Cargoes, contracts, settlements, receivables, counterparties, and bank facilities connected in one place. Not a dashboard. An operating view of how capital actually moves through your book.

Contract
T+0
Cargo
T+7
Invoice
T+10
Facility
T+12
Settlement
T+30
Receivable
T+45
WHERE CAPITAL GETS TIED UP
Timing gap
Pre funding
Credit usage
Settlement risk
Counterparty exposure
Cash release
TRADE LIFECYCLE
ContractT+0
CargoT+7
Timing gap
InvoiceT+10
Pre funding
FacilityT+12
Credit usage
SettlementT+30
Settlement risk
Counterparty exposure
ReceivableT+45
Cash release

Capital visibility, financing drag, and decision support.

Built for trading, finance, operations, credit, and risk teams inside physical energy trading companies.

01
30d0.560d0.890d0.3FACILITY HEADROOM · LOWER = TIGHTER

One operating view

Cargoes, contracts, settlements, receivables, counterparties, and bank facilities connected in one place.

02
KPRL Mombasa$8.4MPSO Karachi$6.1MCepsa Algeciras$4.0MSPC Singapore$2.8M

Capital tied up

See which trades, clients, facilities, and timing gaps are absorbing cash on your balance sheet right now.

03
CargoInvoiceBankCashDRAGT+0T+45d

Financing drag

Where delayed settlements, collection timing, and facility usage are quietly increasing financing cost.

04
RELEASEReduce L/C draw · ENBD
TIMINGSettle Cargo C · T+12
FACILITYReallocate to Mashreq RBL

Decision support

Practical actions that may release capacity, reduce days outstanding, or improve facility usage.

Built to the standard your bank evaluates you on.

Mid-market physical traders get worse facility terms than the majors because the bank cannot get comfortable on the borrower's internal controls. Chowa helps close that gap. Six dimensions, the same dimensions every trade finance credit committee covers in its annual review.

01

Internal processes

Operational workflows visible, consistent, auditable. Not tribal. Not Excel-bound.

02

Policies, enforced

Written policy becomes operational. Facility limits, counterparty limits, segregation rules.

03

Segregation of trades

Front-to-back separation visible in the data. Confirmations, settlements, controls.

04

Accounting up to date

Operating data current so accounting closes monthly without surprises.

05

Risk management, live

Exposure, counterparty concentration, facility headroom, position against limits.

06

Trading, credit risk, audit

The CFO articulates the house's own positions, exposures, controls. Clean audit trail.

The work most mid-market houses do the night before the bank call. Continuous, instead of monthly.

Start narrow. Move only if the numbers justify it.

We work case by case with a limited agreed data sample and a clear commercial question. No fixed timeline. No paid pilot.

HOW WE WORK● DISCREET · DATA LED · CASE BY CASE
We start small. We move only if the numbers justify it.
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Borrowers that look institutional on the dimensions you evaluate them on.

The dimensions a trade finance credit committee covers are clear. Internal processes. Policies. Segregation of trades. Accounting cadence. Risk management. Audit trail. Mid-market borrowers often lag majors on these dimensions, not because they cannot run the function but because they do not have the tools. Chowa is built to those dimensions.

  • Cleaner borrower reporting. Borrowing base reports, covenant packs, and facility utilisation responses generated from the underlying data. Matches what your credit committee actually needs.
  • Faster credit committee turnarounds. Less back and forth with the borrower. Numbers reconcile on first submission. Renewals and top-ups move faster.
  • Lower-risk borrowers. Surprises surfaced before they reach the bank. Facility breaches structurally avoided. The borrower's own picture matches the bank's picture.
WAYS TO ENGAGE
01ReferralHand to your borrowers where cleaner internal controls would help.
02ResaleWhite label alongside your trade finance book.
03IntegrationCoexists with existing trade finance infrastructure including bank-side L/C, guarantee, and credit insurance platforms.
04StructuredCo-built capital visibility for select strategic borrowers.

Read-only. We do not move money. We do not transact. We read, surface, and report. Built in line with Swiss data residency expectations.

Built where capital, risk, and operating data intersect.

Operators, engineers, and senior oil market judgment.

Hartej Singh Sawhney
Co Founder · CEO

Hartej leads commercial strategy, client relationships, partnerships, and product direction.

He has built companies across cybersecurity, fintech, and enterprise infrastructure, with a focus on high trust environments where capital, risk, and operational data intersect.

Andrew Zubko
Co Founder · CTO

Andrew leads engineering, data architecture, security, and technical execution.

He has built secure infrastructure and production systems for complex financial and operating environments.

Senior Oil Industry Advisor
Advisor · To be publicly named with first design partner

Chowa is guided by a senior oil industry advisor with direct physical trading experience.

He advises on contract economics, settlement timing, bank facility usage, counterparty exposure, and the operating reality of physical energy trading.

Where capital, risk, and operating data intersect.

Request a walkthrough.

We work with a small number of trading companies and trade finance partners at a time. Tell us which conversation you want to have.

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