Standby Letters of Credit is issued by a bank as a payment guarantee to assure the seller that in the event of the buyer’s default in making the payment, the bank will be liable to pay the specified amount as per the agreed contract.
With the issuance of SBLC, the bank is undertaking the payment commitment on behalf of the buyer. So, before issuing SBLC, the buyer’s bank will verify the credit quality of the buyer. Once the buyer’s bank is satisfied with the credit history, they will provide a written undertaking to the seller’s bank. This is to assure the payment commitment towards the seller, in case of the buyer’s default.
Since the Standby Letters of Credit is issued after verifying the creditworthiness of the buyer, it stands as a symbol of faith in trade transactions. At the same time, it also acts as proof of the buyer’s financial worth and payment skills. Further, it can serve as a surety to avail credit lines; for those who want to do their business without using their assets.
For businesses, the benefit of having SBLCs is that they can come out from the worst-case scenario at ease. Likewise, in today’s competitive world, traders face difficulties in competing against bigger and better projects. But, having SBLC gives a global status to the buyer’s profile. Even more, it helps them to get the deal awarded with ZERO upfront payment to the seller.
Usually, SBLCs are issued via MT760 on behalf of the buyer and in favor of the seller as an Irrevocable SBLC. This is to say that once it has been issued & transmitted via SWIFT MT760, it cannot be revoked or canceled.
However, it can be transferred or assigned to another party upon written confirmation from the first party. But, based on the fact, that the transferring banks must notify the issuing bank about the amount of SBLC transferred along with the effective date of transfer.
The cost of SBLCs mainly includes commission, processing fee, swift charges, and also the advising fee.
Further, the SBLC fee may also vary depending upon the tenure of MT760. Mostly, the issuance fee of SBLCs is based on the value of the SBLC. Also, the fees will be borne by the buyer and it should be stated in the issued SBLC.
If you’re planning to apply for SBLC from your bank, they may require a 100% collateral or cash margin to proceed with your SBLC request. But in most cases, traders won’t have funds available to provide cash margin to the bank to get the required SBLC. In this case, their Standby LC request will be rejected by their bank.
If you are looking to get SBLC MT760 without a cash margin, you can contact us with your SBLC request.