Letters of Credit
We support our customers in financing of imports and exports by issuing letters of credit favoring the exporting or importing company located anywhere in the world. This form of payment is used to give protection to importers and exporters against buyer/seller risk as well as country risk. The customer is required to have cash cover or security equivalent to the goods in consideration.

The Letters of Credit that we offer include:

• Revocable - This allows the importer or exporter to cancel the L/C without the consent of the other party.
• Irrevocable - This prohibits the importer or exporter to cancel the L/C without consent from the other party.
• Back to back - Two letters of credit are issued in a way that one backs the other. For instance, a customer can import goods from another country for a certain period of time using one L/C without having to open other L/Cs.
• Standby - This is a guarantee that we issue our customers (applicants) in favor of the beneficiary assuring him/her of payment of the goods transacted from the Bank if the applicant (our customer) fails to pay. The payment is only made after the beneficiary produces the documents as evidence of non-payment.
• Transferable - This is a Letter of Credit which can be transferred to many beneficiaries depending on the original L/C. For instance, customer A applies for an L/C from the Bank in favor of Customer B; Customer B fails to supply the goods; Customer B can therefore transfer the original L/C to Customer C who will then enable him acquire and supply the goods to Customer A.
• Green clause - This is a Letter of Credit whereby we provide the exporter with the finances to enable him/her collect the goods, insure and put them in a warehouse upon receiving the warehouse receipt from the exporter.
• Red clause - This is a Letter of Credit that we issue the exporter relying on the documents that he/she provides. We provide the finances at the pre-shipment stage.
• Confirmed - This is a letter of credit whereby one of our correspondent banks adds a confirmation thus putting more weight onto the L/C that we issue our customer to ensure that the exporter has more confidence on the importer. The confirmation can be done locally from the local banks or internationally from correspondent banks.
• Non-confirmed - This is a Letter of Credit issued with no commitment/confirmation from neither a correspondent bank nor a local bank.
• Revolving - This is a Letter of Credit whereby, depending on the terms and conditions that it entails, the amount can be revived without requiring specific amendments.