President of ICC Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman urged the central bank to adapt with the rules of cross border business transactions in tandem with the developed countries. He further said that in some cases Bangladesh did not adapt itself with the updated rules and as a result external business of the country suffer from incongruent trade practices.

Mahbubur Rahman made the observation while inaugurating the ICC workshop on Understanding the UCP 600 at the Hotel Peninsulla Chittagong ,Chittagong on February 28.

We at ICC Bangladesh have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from various countries about nonpayment of Documentary Credits by a number of Banks on various pretext; which are more often than not, in violation of UCP rules adopted by the Banks worldwide. Sometimes, it is also seen that our importers seek legal protection against payment in violation of UCP and seek court injunction restraining the bank from payment even when Bankers are willing to pay, ICCB President maintained. He cautioned that this lowers the image and credibility of local Banks internationally and thus credit rating of Bangladesh goes down to a further low.

There are cases where our exporters are also denied payments against Export L/Cs by the beneficiary banks overseas on some pretexts or the other. When we have such information, we takeup the matter with the respective National Committee of ICC as well as Banking Commission of ICC Hqs. in Paris for redress; including intervention by the regulatory authorities in countries concerned, he observed.

Emphasising the need to build the professional skills of officials to deal with international trade, ICC Bangladesh President said that in many industries, ranging from banks and financial institutions to ready made garments (RMG), there was no alternative to training.

A day-long workshop on the latest international trade rules for letters of credit (LC) namely Uniform Customs and Practices of Documentary Credits (UCPDC) at the port city is aimed at raising the skills of local officials thereby making business easier for the country’s exporters.

Commenting the new UCP as more simple, transparent and user-friendly, ICCB President urged the professionals to be well acquainted with the UCP 600 which will come into effect all over the world from 1st of July, otherwise, he cautioned that Bangladesh businesses may face discrepancies in their export L/Cs.

In his speech as Special Guest President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that information technology has brought about dramatic change in global trade and commerce to ensure safety and security in receipt of goods and payment.

Slow paced paper based mode of transaction is being replaced by fast moving mode which results in Documentary Credit System. Now Documentary Credit System is the most popular and secured system in international trade and transaction, CCCI President observed.

In international trade, import and export are being taken place between two countries. Often buyer and seller are not known to each other. Here, comes up the risk of trade transaction. Buyer needs to mitigate the risk of non-receipt of goods and seller the risk of nonpayment. Here, Documentary Credit mechanism helps in mitigating the risks of both, buyer and seller, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said.

It is often observed that many so-called discrepancies arise from making fall assumption about what a document needs to show. This sort of hypothetical assumptions should be erased from international banking practices. That is why, documentary credit compliance is to be matched with International Standard Banking Practice (ISBP). We know that there have never been such things. He suggested ICC to look into the matter seriously.

Vincent O’Brien, ICC expert from Europe who conducted the workshop also spoke at the inaugural session. About 60 senior and midlevel executives of banks, insurance and shipping companies attended the day-long workshop.

It may be mentioned that with this ICC Bangladesh has completed holding of three workshops on Understanding the New UCP 600. More than 300 participants representing bankers, insurance officials, law years, owners and officials of RMGs and other exporters and business houses attended.