Trade Services
Today, Commerzbank is Germany’s leading trade finance bank – the exporters’ partner of choice with a global network of correspondent banks. We are primarily a relationship-driven Bank, and our focus is on developing trade solutions to the mutual benefit of all involved parties.
What we offer
- LCs are processed within 24 hours (confirmed LCs subject to credit limits)
- Processing of LC business 18 hours per day, five working days a week in three dedicated trade processing centres in Europe and Asia
- 70% of export markets covered by our local presence
Documentary collection
It’s a common scenario: Your customers ask you for a cheaper way of handling their international business, as they have already known the other party for quite a while. The importing country of the drawee fulfils certain criteria. Nevertheless, your customers do not want to do the business on an open account basis.
Documentary collection might be a good solution for your customer. It provides more security than selling on open account, but not as much as documentary credit.
It is important to choose the right partner for this solution. Commerzbank offers all kinds of collection services such as documents against payment and documents against acceptance. With our large customer basis, our extensive branch network in Germany, and our sophisticated electronic settlement systems, we support you with our easy, fast, and efficient collection services.
Letter of credit - advising
Contracts between international businesses often require the issuance and advising of letters of credit to partners and banks all over the world. If you do not have a direct relationship with the beneficiary, or their bank, you run the risk of refusing the transaction – which could mean losing a customer to one of your competitors. But there is a better option – work with Commerzbank.
Within 24 hours after receipt of your instruction we will advise the LC. In countries where we do not maintain an operative entity, we will use our large network of correspondent relationships.
As our customer, you will benefit from our global network without having to maintain a huge network on your own. Using Commerzbank as your advising bank reduces turnaround time and transit costs. Irrespective of whether the beneficiary is in Germany or a more exotic location – just forward your LCs to COBADEFF and we will do the rest.
Letter of credit - confirmation
Have you ever been confronted with demanding corporate clients looking to facilitate their imports? Or have you ever experienced deterioration in the economic environment in which your bank operates, so that your international partners were reluctant to take further risks?
With Commerzbank's 130 years of experience in international trade, the, we have gathered a wealth of expertise in navigating the ups and downs of global economic activity. We assess the country and credit risk of our trade finance activities in all continents, incorporating data from our financial institutions partners across the world. Therefore, we have a unique risk appetite to confirm letters of credit in markets where other international banks have never ventured or have scaled-back their commitments.
Commerzbank's consistent leadership in trade finance is underlined by a strong commitment to the smooth processing and confirmation of LCs. With our extensive network of branches in major financial hubs, and our dedicated "third country business" specialists, we can deliver a high standard of quality in processing these confirmations globally.
Commerzbank is keen to know more about the structure of your trade finance wallet. With a flexible approach based on considering risk as a value driver for our business, we are looking for partners who can benefit from our expertise.
Letter of credit - negotiation
Business contracts between international partners often require the handling of documents outside your country – often restricting the extent to which you can influence proceedings. For this sensitive task you need a true co-operative partner that you can rely on.
Documents are checked immediately after receipt by our specialist staff, in full accordance with respective regulations to ensure trouble-free processing. The powerful combination of fundamental know-how and service orientation is reflected in the excellent quality of our service and the perfect satisfaction of our institutional clients.
As a member of several local banking associations and the consulting group for UCP 600, represented in the ICC Task Force, Commerzbank takes an active part in refining existing frameworks and in defining new standards on a global basis.
Letter of credit - reimbursement
Day by day millions of documents are presented to banks. Most of the time, these banks do not maintain a direct account relationship with the opening institution in the requested currency.
We shall be happy to assist you in settling your EUR-denominated letters of credit if you have an account with us.
Besides the "normal" reimbursements, we offer you a huge variety of services such as
- Issuance of irrevocable reimbursement undertakings
- Honouring of deferred claims
- Financing for buyer or your institution
More than 2,500 financial institutions maintain an EUR account with Commerzbank. This enables us to execute a large portion of the reimbursements by book-to-book transfer within Commerzbank. The result is high quality and cost savings for you and your customers.
Guarantee
The complexity of foreign guarantee business with all its country-specific features and diversity of bank regulations and practices can represent a really challenging operation for your customers. It involves risks and requirements that do not arise in domestic trade, meaning that your customers' primary need is for risk protection.
Commerzbank is at your disposal, offering you and your customers a full range of guarantee instruments and acting as your supporting partner with decades of experience and extensive expertise in guarantee and standby letter of credit business. This is supplemented by a large and continuously updated information pool of country and bank-related data concerning more than 70 countries worldwide.
Our aim is to provide you and your customers with highly professional, worldwide and tailor-made solutions - irrespective of whether your clients are importing or exporting - to cover possible performance and financial risks arising from business transactions. These solutions endeavour to achieve the greatest benefit to all parties concerned according to the latter's needs and expectations.
In any case, when Commerzbank is involved in the issuance of a guarantee or issuance / confirmation of a Standby Letter of Credit, we provide our customers with the individual service of checking, commenting and drafting guarantee conditions or complete wordings in line with international standards and practice for specific cases.
Trade Faciliation Programmes
Trade Facilitation Programmes (TFPs) are programmes which were launched by supranational development banks, such as the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstuction and Development, London), ADB (Asian Development Bank, Manila), the Inter-American Development Bank (Washington) and IFC (International Finance Corporation, Washington) to support the international flow of goods and services with certain markets, mainly emerging markets. In the respective countries, banks are carefully selected by these multinational development banks.
Supply chain financing
Your bank has a couple of valuable export-orientated clients who require a financing for their next shipment. Or your bank needs to deliver a post-shipment financing in order to compete with other banks within your market space for a very important import client.
The highly competitive market for valuable corporate and business clients is well known to Commerzbank. Therefore, we are well aware of the products and services your bank may deliver to its clients. A strong and highly liquid bank as a provider of refinancing for those products and services is often necessary, in particular in markets in which FX liquidity is scarce due to country risk, etc.
With Commerzbank as a leader in trade finance, you can benefit from our ability to differentiate between the various risks. And we rely heavily on our relationships with financial institutions throughout the world. A further advantage for your bank: once we know our partner, we can provide very flexible solutions for pre-export and post-shipment financing. Both for flow business and for specific trade chains (i.e. oil, agrobusiness, etc), taking your market place or client portfolio into consideration. Leverage by financing your trade chain creates mutual benefits.
Commerzbank is keen to create mutual benefits by delivering suitable solutions for your bank with our expertise. This is partnership you can experience.
Buyer's credit
Your bank has a couple of valuable export-orientated clients that require a financing for their next shipment? Or your bank needs to deliver a post-shipment financing in order to compete with other banks within your market space for a very important import client?
The highly competitive market for valuable corporate and business clients is best known by Commerzbank. Therefore, we are well aware of the products and services your bank may deliver to its clients. A strong and highly liquid bank as a provider of refinancing for those products and services is often necessary, in particular in markets in which FX liquidity is scarce due to country risk etc.
With Commerzbank as a leader in trade finance, you can benefit from our ability to differentiate between the different risks. And we rely heavily on our relationships with financial institutions throughout the world. A further advantage for your bank: Once we know our partner, we can provide very flexible solutions for pre-export and post-shipment financing as well as ECA-covered finance and other Buyer's credit structures. Both, for flow business as well as for specific trade chains (i.e. oil, agrobusiness etc), and for short or long-term tenors. considering your market place or client portfolio. Leverage by financing your trade chain creates mutual benefits.
Commerzbank is keen to create mutual benefits by delivering suitable solutions with our expertise for your bank. This is partnership you can experience.
Forfaiting
The complexity of foreign guarantee business with all its country-specific features and diversity of bank regulations and practices can represent a really challenging operation for your customers. It involves risks and requirements that do not arise in domestic trade, meaning that your customers' primary need is for risk protection.
Commerzbank is at your disposal, offering you and your customers a full range of guarantee instruments and acting as your supporting partner with decades of experience and extensive expertise in guarantee and standby letter of credit business. This is supplemented by a large and continuously updated information pool of country and bank-related data concerning more than 70 countries worldwide.
Our aim is to provide you and your customers with highly professional, worldwide and tailor-made solutions - irrespective of whether your clients are importing or exporting - to cover possible performance and financial risks arising from business transactions. These solutions endeavour to achieve the greatest benefit to all parties concerned according to the latter's needs and expectations.
In any case, when Commerzbank is involved in the issuance of a guarantee or issuance / confirmation of a Standby Letter of Credit, we provide our customers with the individual service of checking, commenting and drafting guarantee conditions or complete wordings in line with international standards and practice for specific cases.
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