At the outset, well deserving complements to ICC for their continued efforts in bringing industry-wide perspective to Financial Crime Risk Controls through their working papers.

Exactly 75 years have passed since Malcolm McLean invented the container, but international traders still haven't noticed!

Beginning September Last week, the ICC circulated 4 New Draft Opinions (TA9321-934), that will be discussed at the October 2023 Banking Commission meeting (held virtually and in Paris).

Standby LCs mimic independent guarantees and were mainly issued by US banks predominantly during the time when issuance of guarantees seldom occurred in the US. Although US banks were never prohibited from issuing independent guarantees, in 1996 the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency1 expressly permitted them to do so.

During 3 ICC Banking Commission Meetings, Draft ICC Opinion TA927 has been on the agenda. The “case” is now closed – by the withdrawl of the Draft Opinion. However, the issue has not been solved. The purpose of this blog post is threefold: 1) To provide the background and explain the issue of TA927, 2) to provide a personal perspective of TA927 and finally 2) to offer some thoughts and reflection on how to solve the issue going forward.

As we have mentioned previously, whilst majority support was communicated in favour of the content of the draft Opinion, an alternate minority viewpoint was also expressed.

Almost all documents presented under documentary credits bear a "title". This "title" may be exactly the same title as required by the L/C or a "similar”title. Sometimes, documents are also "untitled". ISBP 821 encompasses all the eventualities in paragraph A39: 

This article is published with kind permission from the ICC International Maritime Bureau. It is reproduced from the IMB Confidential Bulletin (issue 11, 01 June 2023), regularly sent to members.

In April this year the ICC Banking Commission circulated a new approved ICC Opinion. The reference of the Opinion is 470/TA930rev.

18 April 2023 the ICC held their Global Banking Commission meeting. The main content of the meeting was the second Opinion session of the year. Prior to the meeting the slides with the suggested changes for the two Draft Opinions to be revised and finalized were circulated to the National Committees.

There are many demand guarantee cases decided by Australian courts related to unconscionability. Some Australian courts have given judicial recognition to the concept of unconscionability and granted injunction on the basis of the unconscionable conduct under demand guarantees. The notion of unconscionability is vague and would be in the lack of certainty. It is my opinion that the unconscionability exception would have negative effect on the credibility of Australian demand guarantees and therefore the unconscionability doctrine deserves careful discussions.

In this article, Jean-Francois Tapprest and Urban Ljungblom analyse the ups and downs of we.trade, a digital platform that could have transformed the way Trade Finance is done.

UCP 600 article 2 indicates that a “Complying presentation” means a presentation that is in accordance with the terms and conditions of the credit, the applicable provisions of these rules and International Standard Banking Practice. To obtain the expected services from the bank, the beneficiary of a documentary credit must therefore prepare the documents required by the L/C respecting - hierarchically - the L/C conditions, the provisions envisaged by UCP 600 and by the international standard banking practice partially codified in the ICC publication ISBP 745. Below, we will analyse how to prepare a “Transport Document Covering at Least Two Different Modes of Transport” (also known as a multimodal or combined transport document) in compliance with the conditions of the L/C and the above-mentioned provisions.

Should a lunatic run the asylum, a poacher become the gamekeeper or a regulator switch loyalties at will? The answer may appear obvious, but the reality could be different. Let us find out.

The title of this article may seem enigmatic, but sometimes things are not as simple as they may seem. ICC rules for sure are not – as they are subject to interpretations and each party read them in the most favourable manner – for them.

In January 2023, the ICC held the first ICC Opinions Session in 2023. The meeting was held virtually and had 3 new Draft Opinions to be discussed:

Of course, the covid-19 crisis has impacted Trade Finance in different ways. The forwarding of documents has been disrupted – hence delays and increased risk of documents lost in transit. The transit times of the goods has increased.