International Business Basics

Payment Terms in International Trade: Open Account, Barter Trade and Bank Guarentee

Open Account

From the seller’s point of view the Open Account is the most unsatisfactory international business payment system. Under this payment system the arrangement is that the buyer pays at the end of an agreed period. The seller consigns the goods directly to the buyer or to his order and documents pertaining to the goods are sent directly to the buyer enabling him to take delivery of the goods. Under this payment system the seller after having supplied goods is purely at the mercy of the buyer. Such a payment is normally in those trading arrangements requiring a high degree or trust between the buyer and the seller and a regular continuous business relationship between the two parties.… Read the rest

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Bills for Collection

Under Bills for Collection method of international trade payments, since a bank acts as an intermediary, the seller does not have to depend on the buyer only. But here the bank’s role is only in the process of routing the documents of transport/title along with other documents. The seller draws documents in terms of the contract that it has entered into with the buyer, hands over those documents to the bank with clear instructions as to the mode of collection- whether goods are to be delivered against payment or against acceptance of documents and a bill of exchange on the basis of which he can get payment after due date of exchange and if for instance that bill is not paid for some reason the seller can fall back on the Bill of Exchange law and can take action under that law to get payment.… Read the rest

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Regulatory Documents used in Export/Import Documentation

Regulatory documents are otherwise called as Official documents, because most of these documents are required for compliance of regulations of either the exporter’s country or the importer’s country.

1. Export Declaration Forms

As per Indian Exchange Control Regulations, details of all goods (except certain exempted categories) by whatever means exported from India, are required to be declared on certain specified forms. These forms are known as Export Declaration Forms. These forms are evolved by the Reserve Bank of India to ensure that the value of all the goods exported from India is declared and the foreign exchange due there is repatriated to India.

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Transport Documents used in International Trade

In international trade, the goods move from the warehouse of the exporter to the warehouse of the importer. The goods may move by land water or air or a combination of one or more of these modes. In international trade, such transport documents are more in number and it is very important to know the significance of each type of document and its nomenclature, etc. One of the important aspects to be remembered with regard to any transport document is that it must show the name of the carrier.

1. Bill of Lading

This is a transport document, which represents the movement of goods by water.

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Note Issuance Facility (NIF)

Note Issuance Facility (NIF)  offers a good mix of capital market and syndicated loan operations.  Note Issuance Facility is a usual medium term, floating rate, funding instrument – it is a long-term position for the investor who has shifted their performance for short term in view of the country risks of some less developed countries. NIF is a medium term arrangement under which borrowers can issue short term papers (called a Euro note) with the underwriting support of the commercial banks. The different names given to these main facilities with some variation in its terms are revolving underwriting facility(RUF), short-term note issuance facility (SNIP), transferable revolving underwriting facility (TRUF) and Note Purchase Facility (NPF).  … Read the rest

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Country Risk in International Investments

Country risk is defined as the exposure to a loss in cross-border lending caused by events in a particular country. These events must be, at least to some extent, under the control of the government of that country; they are definitely not under the control of an enterprise or individual.

All cross-border lending in a country – whether to the government, a bank, a private enterprise or an individual – is exposed to country risk. Country risk is thus a broader concept than sovereign risk, which is the risk of lending to the government of a sovereign nation. Further, only events that are, at least to some extent, under the control of the government, can lead to the materialization of country risk.

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