Challenges associated with paper-based guarantees
Bank guarantees underpin a huge amount of commercial activity – securing leases, contracts, tenders, and trade, often for values that matter a great deal to the businesses involved. Yet for something so foundational, the process behind them hasn't caught up. Issuing a guarantee can take longer than it should and managing it over its lifetime brings its own set of headaches, largely because, until now, the guarantee itself has always been a physical, paper-based document.
Anyone who has dealt with paper-based guarantees, particularly when going direct to the bank, knows the process can be slow and manual:
- The guarantee typically needs to be physically picked up from a branch and/or posted to the beneficiary
- That can create a time delay before the beneficiary even has the document in hand and a real risk it gets lost or damaged in transit
- Any post-issuance or ongoing change, such as correcting an error or adjusting the value or expiry date, usually means presenting the physical guarantee back to the bank
- At the end of the guarantee, releasing it and returning funds can be similarly slow, simply because of the paperwork involved
- There's also a fraud risk beneficiaries carry with any physical document: a fake or photocopied guarantee is far harder to catch than a digitally verified one
- Bank guarantees out for years at a time often get lost or misplaced, causing huge problems for all involved
None of this is a flaw specific to any one institution – it's just the nature of a process built around a physical document. Digital issuance doesn't change the guarantee; it just removes the physical document from the process.
What is a digital bank guarantee?
A digital bank guarantee is the same instrument as a traditional paper-based bank guarantee – it's just issued, stored, and managed in electronic form instead of on paper.
It's important to be clear on what "digital" does and doesn't change for guarantees on the Assuro platform. Going digital doesn't create a new type of instrument or a lesser version of a guarantee – it changes the format and delivery method. The issuing bank will still recognise any amendments, claims, and releases actioned digitally, the same as they would on paper.
Why we did it
The story behind Assuro's digital bank guarantees goes back further than this launch. It started with a collaborative program between Assuro and Curtin University's Industry Exchange, which identified an established European technology could be used to digitalise financial instruments like bank guarantees here in Australia. That research led Assuro to license the technology of Digital Vault Services (DVS) in 2023, and in 2024, to establish Assuro Digital Services (ADS): a dedicated technology company built to bring DVS's Guarantee Vault to the Australian and New Zealand market on an exclusive basis.
This launch is Assuro putting that technology directly into the hands of the businesses and beneficiaries who use our platform every day. Rather than being built around any single bank or system, Guarantee Vault operates as shared, standardised infrastructure across the industry – which is what makes it possible for Assuro, banks, and beneficiaries to all work from the same real-time source of truth. More on how that works below.
How it works
For Applicants
Applying, amending and managing your guarantee through Assuro has always been a digital process. Until now, the one exception was the guarantee itself: a physical document that still needed to be printed, picked up, and posted. Any amendment or change to a physical guarantee always requires the guarantee to be returned to the bank so a new document can be issued – which is difficult to co-ordinate and time consuming for all involved.
Digital issuance closes that last gap:
- There's no change to how you apply for a digital bank guarantee – simply choose the guarantee with ‘digital issuance’ at product selection
- Any ongoing changes or post-issuance amendments to the guarantee no longer require the physical document to be posted or presented back to the bank – all parties are notified of the change in real time
- At the conclusion of the guarantee, the beneficiary can digitally initiate the return or cancellation, meaning funds are released to you faster
For Beneficiaries
You don't need to sign up or register for anything to receive a digital guarantee. All that's needed is an email address, provided by the Applicant during the application process.
The moment the guarantee is issued, you'll receive an email notification. From there, you're guided through a secure One-Time Password (OTP) login to view the guarantee and, if needed, initiate a release or claim directly with the Guarantee Vault. You'll use this same email each time you need to access the guarantee.
Want more control? You can sign up. While it's not required, Beneficiaries who manage multiple guarantees can choose to sign up for full portfolio management capabilities – viewing an entire portfolio in one place rather than guarantee by guarantee, importing existing physical guarantees, accessing structured approval workflows, adding unlimited users and entities, and getting a full audit trail of any changes. Sign-up takes a few minutes, and new users can get full access to all features for free for the first 12 months. For more information on Guarantee Vault, contact ADS.
Which one should you choose?
There's no wrong answer here – and that's the point. Digital issuance is a new capability, not a replacement. Physical, paper-based bank guarantees remain fully available on Assuro, and may still be the right fit for some businesses.
Digital issuance is worth choosing when speed and simplicity matter most: it's issued and delivered in real time, with amendments and releases handled without ever presenting a physical document. If your beneficiary needs a hard copy for their own internal processes, or you'd simply prefer to keep things as they are, paper remains just as available, secure, and valid as it's always been.
The beauty is you can decide guarantee by guarantee – there's no need to commit to one or the other across your whole portfolio. Select the option that suits each application as it comes up and change your approach any time your needs do.
Whichever you choose, the guarantee itself doesn't change: the same bank stands behind it, and the same trusted process gets you there. What changes is what happens once it's issued.
Ready to go digital?
Digital bank guarantees are now available as an option through Assuro with no extra steps, no extra cost, and a faster experience for everyone involved. Apply now on Assuro.
Behind the scenes: Guarantee Vault Platform
Digital bank guarantees on Assuro are made possible through an integration with the Guarantee Vault, the platform operated by our sister company, Assuro Digital Services, the exclusive distributor and operator of the Guarantee Vault in Australia and New Zealand.
It's a cloud-based platform, originally developed in 2019 by Digital Vault Services in Europe, where it's used by more than 50 financial institutions and over 7,500 corporates. Guarantee Vault securely stores each electronically executed guarantee and connects the Applicant, the Bank, and the Beneficiary throughout its life.
As an Applicant, your experience on Assuro doesn't change – you won't need to log into or interact with the Guarantee Vault directly. But it's worth knowing that when your beneficiary receives their digital guarantee, the notification will come from ADS.
Both ADS and the Guarantee Vault are ISO27001:2022 certified for information security, with all data stored securely within Australia and backed up with geo-redundancy.
Want to know more? Get in touch today: Contact Us.