Sunday 7 September 2014

How To Use The Standby Letter Of Credit As Guarantee

By Kerri Stout


Financial and contractual agreements are safer when you have a guarantee. This is the safety net you require to recover your money in case the agreement is not honored. A standby letter of credit is a perfect guarantee when handling project and transactions of any magnitude. It helps you avoid reliance on goodwill when doing business.

The industries that commonly use this as collateral include shipment, service delivery and construction. It is issued from a bank or financing institution to confirm that you will still get your payments if the contractor, supplier or service provider fails to honor his obligation. For international transactions, the letter is best issued by a financial institution that is accredited to operate in both jurisdictions.

The financial institution of bank that provides the guarantee knows the client and his credit worth. This makes it easy to recover money through attaching assets or his accounts in case payments need to be made. It is an effective way to ensure that your client does not default.

An example is a contractor engaged in Dubai with a strict construction deadline. The contract also stipulates the quality of work to be done. Delays in completing such a project would lead to huge losses. The owner has to hire another contractor to finalize an abandoned project. It is the bank that reimburses the money to cover for such breach and cushion the investor from loss.

Some suppliers of goods and services are likely to bleach your trust. They may fail to fulfill the terms of a contract because of other factors. The factors range from financial crunch to delays in payments from their suppliers or clients. The bank or financial institution provides a buffer to cushion you against any such losses.

Your contractor or supplier is likely to have gone out of business. This makes it difficult to attach his assets and force him to refund or reimburse your money. Banks have the legal mandate to attach properties of their creditors. As a client, this could be a lengthy process or you do not have the mandate. It is easier for banks to recover monies in case of default.

The assets of your contractor or supplier may be frozen because of political unrest. There are disagreements that may arise midway through the project and cause it to stall. Such circumstances would make it difficult to recover your funds. This is also the best way to deal with dishonest contractors who have no intention of fulfilling their contractual agreements.

The bank requires its client to fulfill certain conditions before granting the letter. As the claimant, you must produce evidence that the contract was bleached and you therefore deserve the compensation. It is however worth noting that such steps are taken in rare and extreme cases.

Most of the cases that require a standby letter involved domestic trade. International transactions use commercial letters. The bank has its own conditions of issuing the guarantee. This is the best safety net in business instead of relying on goodwill which could lead to losses once breached. It reduces your exposure to losses regardless of your trading environment.




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