Md. Saifullah Azad CERM :
Payments as well as the delivery of goods in international trade is challenging with huge involvement of risks. Risks in the international trade are mostly related to the trade payment and financing activities considering the fact that these are the major activities of international banking in Bangladesh. Most of the cases the risks are related to non-compliance of regulation or guidelines. In Bangladesh, trade services products are those services that are commonly offered from the ‘Trade Services Department’ of a bank. In broader sense, trade services products of Bangladesh includes products or services related to trade payment and trade finance.
Many types of risks are involved in the trading of goods and some of these risks will affect domestic trade, they are generally amplified in international trade. The most common trade risks includes finance related risk, payment related risk, documentation risk, economic risk, foreign exchange risk, interest rate and price risk, crime and money laundering risk, buyer’s insolvency/credit risk, buyer’s acceptance risk, knowledge inadequacy, seller’s performance risk, country risk, cultural risk, legal risk, political and sovereign risk and transit risk. Common Trade Risks in Banks are described below:
In LC operations, late payment has been found to be a common practice by the trade service providing banks. In spite of receiving compliant documents under sight LCs, the payments have been lingered which don not only harm the institutional reputation but also the image of Bangladesh. The applicants request the banks to lodge discrepancy notices to halt the payment momentarily on the grounds such as goods had not arrived or goods were of inferior quality. The applicants also approach the issuing banks to linger payment through issuing discrepancy notices in spite of the arrival of consignment. Banks are also cooperating with them in some instances which also inflate the confirmation charges of the LCs issued from Bangladesh. This practice creates huge country risk as well as reputational risk with counterparts.
In the context of Bangladesh, there are instances where banks reject documents just for rejection and charges for the discrepancies as their foreign counterparts do. These are clear departures from the UCP morals. Such practices can simply make the trades costlier and burdensome to the consumers generating economic and other associated risks.
These practices along with sudden price decrease in global market are creating forced loan, rescheduling and converting non-funded liability into funded liability in Bangladesh. In some circumstances, banks also delay payment to protect their interest which is undesirable under UCP rules. And this scenario creates both credit risk/default risks and liquidity risk for banks also.
For making the payment under local Back to Back LCs (denominated in FC) there are two alternatives for banks i.e. Nostro Accounts (using swift MT 202) or they can use the FC Clearing Account maintained with Bangladesh Bank. Many banks are utilizing the services of foreign correspondent abroad as the payments are affected through the Nostro Account which is maintained with them which results in FC outflow in the form of charges from Bangladesh just to gain in business with the correspondent agents resulting in higher revenue in the form of charges which may create legal risk and non-compliance risk as well.
In banking industry of Bangladesh, some instruments trade like LCs or guarantees are used for fraudulent or unethical practices in performing local trading activities. The issue of accommodation bill (payment without genuine consignment) related with shipment under local LCs is severe concern augmenting various risks including delivery risk of the consignments.
Most of the local banks in Bangladesh, for domestically transferred and transferable LCs transfer through endorsement on the back of the master LCs which raises the scope for fraudulent practices and forgery.
As per BB Guidelines on Foreign Exchange Transactions (GFET-2009) banks are required to obtain confidential reports for opening of an LC on foreign exporters where amount exceeds USD 10,000 and USD 20,000 against proforma invoices and against intents issued by local agents of suppliers respectively. Banks are issuing LCs without obtaining credit reports only incorporating credit report clauses which is a sheer violation of the GFET and obviously raises the risks of both the issuing bank and the importer.
To retain the clients in this competitive market, some banks (a few instance) are sometimes undertaking undue risks even bypassing the regulatory framework, e.g. financing by the Ads to the exporters through opening back to back LCs (deferred by 180 days) upon open account trade which could be extremely risky if the foreign buyers default or do not make payment. Mentionable, as the associated ADs are endorsing the transports documents (title to the goods) to the foreign buyers directly, it could prove to be very risky.
Insurance coverage is supposed to be offered by the importers in Bangladesh. Banks are supposed to ensure minimum insurance coverage of 110 per cent of importable at the time of opening LCs. But some banks open LCs are opened ensuring only 100 per cent of the importable. Hence, breach of Bangladesh Bank rules is very apparent creating huge risk exposure of the Bank.
In case of importing restricted items that require permission from the appropriate authority issuing banks are suppose to incorporate the documents as well as certain conditions. In general, documents are asked for but conditions are not incorporated exposing banks in documentation risks.
Some banks make payments as per the requirement of LCs but goods never arrived and banks are in trouble. Such instances are found where sight LCs is issued with TT reimbursement clause by a Bangladeshi bank and the scenario exposes huge risks.
Risks also prevail in banks in the area of non-realization of export proceeds. Banks are expected to behave responsibly and report to Bangladesh Bank within stipulated time. But there are instances where ADs of banks do not report to Bangladesh Bank and also banks cooperate with the exporters in fraudulent activities holding reporting risks also.
As per the directives of BB, the banks are absolutely prohibited from engaging themselves in transactions with speculative motives in respect of FX market but some treasuries of banks hedge the risks of the clients through options and so not report to evade the possible difficulties. Transactions on option require case to case approval from Bangladesh Bank. Earning profit and collection of charges are the main objectives behind these malpractices resulting new risk dimension for the entire banking industry.
Sometimes banks in Bangladesh do not renew the guarantee requirement for continuing with inward remittance services. Some banks have undue practices in mobilizing inward remittance through exchange houses, for which Bangladesh Bank can duly penalize them. In maintaining FX accounts, some irregularities are there mainly due to the knowledge gap of the bankers.
Four techniques of Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML) i.e. over and under invoicing of goods and services; over and under shipment of goods and services; multiple invoicing; and falsely described goods and services. In Bangladesh over and under invoicing of goods and services, and falsely described goods and services are common in use for money laundering. To hide or profitable use of the proceeds of crime through illicit outflows of funds from Bangladesh the criminals use over pricing in imports, generally low duty item like capital machineries, raw materials and spare parts and under pricing of export. For gaining government benefit like cash incentives, subsidies there are tendencies of over pricing of exported items wherein collected wage earners’ remittance is used to fill the rest of the export proceeds.
Sanctions clause is commonly found in the LCs received from abroad. Now-a-days the local have also started inserting Sanction clause in their LCs issued from Bangladesh which do not match with the expectation of the approach of ICC. These types of clauses may offer negative perception at the initiation of the transactions.
International trade exposes exporters and importers to substantial risks. To mitigate these risks, firms can buy special trade finance products from banks. Major ways to mitigate trade risk in banks are described below:
Minimising risks through precautionary measures: Importers and exporters can take precautionary measures to avoid or minimize some trade risks wherein banks can play a pivotal role. For example, in order to avoid quality issues before they arise, importers should research the quality of the products and verify the general reputation of the seller before the placement of an order.
Negotiating the right type of payment and credit terms: The question of when and how a payment is made will determine how the counterparty risk is distributed between the exporter and the importer. In this sense the negotiation of favourable payment and credit terms or the use of risk mitigating payment instruments is an important element of the management of counterparty risks in trade.
Introduction of modern communication and service rendering devices in the foreign exchange department: In various facets of import financing, modern IT devices should be introduced for increasing overall efficiency of the service. Communication of letter of credit to the negotiating banks, negotiation regarding LC conditions, conformation of letter of credit and payment of import bills are the areas where modern IT devices should be employed specially in those banks where there exist room for improvement.
Developing hearty banking relationship with foreign banks in important parts of business world: For handling import trade systematically and effectively, there is a need for developing sound relationship with foreign banks which can operate as negotiating banks for the bank issuing letter of credit. This relationship building can facilitate prompt handling of import operations including the payment aspects.
Strict adherence to Bangladesh Bank guidelines in processing import financing: The foreign exchange department of the bank must follow the Bangladesh Bank guidelines strictly to avoid any future problem in the management of import financing. Bank officials dealing in foreign exchange must be thoroughly conversant with these rules and in evaluating application for letter of credit. All points must be examined with utmost care and prudence. This may also help to protect national interest.
Strengthening advisory services by the bank for the new and inexperienced import firms: New and inexperienced import firms experience problems in handing various aspects of import financing. These firms need sound advisory services from banks to handle all technical aspects precisely. Bank officials in the foreign exchange department can work as helping hand to assist these firms. For this purpose, technically sound team must work in the advisory cell of the foreign exchange department of the bank.
Credit insurance: Credit insurance is an alternative to letters of credit, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Credit insurance protects the exporter from the risk of default by the importer. Credit insurance can cover specific circumstances such as the importer’s bankruptcy, refusal to pay or country risks such as political upheaval. It is possible to insure all of a supplier’s clients or simply specific customers or transactions.
Factoring: Factoring is limited as a mitigation instrument for trade risks in Bangladesh. Factoring firms that offer international factoring and if non-recourse factoring is employed the factor takes on the credit risk of all trade receivables which can be initiated in banking industry of Bangladesh
Forfaiting: Forfaiting is carried out on a non-recourse basis because the instrument sold is an obligation of the customer which also enables exporters to trade in higher risk countries although the higher risk will be reflected in the cost. Forfaiting can be expensive to arrange as the company will have to pay for the financing arrangement and the guarantee, henceforth proper care should be adopted before taking this strategy.
Supplier finance: Supplier finance, also known as reverse factoring, is initiated by the buyer (not the seller), typically to extend payment terms without damaging the supplier relationship or the ability of the supplier to deliver in time. In supplier finance, a bank in Bangladesh can pay the exporter as soon as the importer has confirmed the invoice. The bank will be repaid later by the buyer. Supplier finance can be offered on a non-recourse basis, which means that the exporter is not liable for non-payment by the importer.
Both exporters and importers have to decide which risks to tolerate and which risks to manage. Ultimately a cost-benefit analysis must determine which instrument is best suited to mitigate the identified trade risks. Hence, the banks in Bangladesh can play advisory roles in expanding trade literacy among the traders which will ultimately benefit them in handling trade business. Moreover, a company’s specific situation with regard to financing needs and customer relationships must be taken into account while addressing the trade risk mitigation although in most cases not all trade risks can be mitigated. However, all required strategies must consolidated to obtain both short term and long term benefits in international trade business for a forward moving country like Bangladesh.
The writer, a banker by profession is a Certified Expert in Risk Management (CERM) from Frankfurt School of Finance, Germany. The views expressed in the article are the writer’s own and not necessarily the organization he represents. Email: [email protected]
