Trade financing

International trade flows must be financed. This can be done by using a letter of credit (‘L/C’) or a documentary collection. These are the traditional ways of documentary payment.

Financing can also be done in other ways. By export financing, supply chain financing and financing on the basis of claims, such as factoring. The team at Van Traa advises financial institutions and commodity traders about all these types of trade financing.

In this respect, they advise on securities on bills of lading and/or on cargo and the related international aspects. They also frequently address questions regarding performance bonds and first demand guarantees.

With regard to documentary credit, a very important aspect is how to handle documents that have been refused by a bank on the basis of ‘discrepancies’. In the event of a documentary collection, it often concerns situations in which the documents are not accepted by the buyer/receiver, which leaves the goods at the destination, or may prevent them from being collected.

The team often works together with (international) correspondent lawyers in order to limit the damage and to offer swift solutions to their clients.