Webinars

  April 17, 2009 at 02:00PM ET

True or False? A well-crafted letter of credit ensures that suppliers who deliver agreed-upon goods in the agreed-upon timeframe will receive prompt payment in return.

If you don’t know the answer, it’s time for a review of letter of credit basics!

While a letter of credit may appear to be an absolute assurance that a bank will pay your customer’s debts should they run into financial trouble, what you’ve actually got is a very strict set of requirements you must meet to receive payment.

This common misconception has fooled many credit managers into thinking that they have credit protection only to have it will fail just when it’s needed most!

The fact is, many credit managers receive only a basic orientation in letters of credit and are often left frustrated and confused when the letters of credit don't really work the way they thought.

You may be among them.

Please join IOMA and credit expert Buddy Baker for a special interactive webinar outlining the fundamentals of both commercial and standby letters of credit. Using real-life examples, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of the steps in the life of a letter of credit, identifying pitfalls along the way.

Register today and you’ll learn how to avoid the most common mistakes, and why letters of credit might not get paid. You’ll also learn about standard and silent confirmation and how to get paid in hours instead of weeks.

In just 90 minutes, you’ll learn:

• How banks determine whether or not to pay their letters of credit.
• How to avoid discrepancies in letter of credit documents.
• The circumstances under which bankruptcy of a customer can prevent payment of their letters of credit as preferential payment.
• How to negotiate language that provides both solid protection and quick payment.
• How rules and regulations—like UCP—can affect your ability to get paid.

FEATURED FACULTY

Walter (Buddy) Baker
Managing Director, Global Trade Risk Management Strategies, LLC

Walter (Buddy) Baker has over 30 years of experience in international trade finance. In September 2008 he left Atradius Trade Credit Insurance and now works as a freelance consultant, assisting exporters and banks with structuring financing for exports and imports. Prior to Atradius, Buddy’s career was on the banking side, most recently including 10 years with ABN AMRO Bank as Global Head of Technical Trade Advisory/Compliance.

Buddy is a recognized expert in trade finance and author of numerous magazine articles and the books Users’ Handbook for Documentary Credits under UCP 600, Documentary Payments & Short-Term Trade Finance, and The Regulatory Environment of Letters of Credit and Trade Finance. He makes frequent presentations for national associations of exporters, importers, bankers, and lawyers. Buddy continues to serve as a member-at-large of the National Letter of Credit Committee of the International Financial Services Association and to be actively involved in establishing national and worldwide standard practices for L/Cs, such as the latest revision of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (referred to as “UCP600”), the official ICC guide for examining letter of credit documents, called the International Standard Banking Practices for the Examination of Documents under Letters of Credit (“ISBP”), the recent “eUCP” supplement to the UCP, dealing with electronic documents, the International Standby Practices (“ISP98”), and Article 5 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

He acts as an advisor to the Wolfsberg Group, an international group that includes most of the largest banks in the world whose purpose is to set standards for combating money laundering, and to the Institute of International Banking Law & Practice. He also serves on the Advisory Council of the FCIB, a multinational association of export credit managers.

Buddy received his undergraduate degree from Yale and his MBA from Northwestern.