In the practice of international trade, the form of payment for the delivered products, work performed or services is of great importance. Taking into account the mutual interests of the participants foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

These forms of international payments are used for payments, both in cash and on credit. At the same time, bank transfers are used in settlements for cash, documentary letters of credit, as well as in settlements using a commercial loan.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors.

Application. A letter of credit is used if the buyer and seller of the goods are far from each other or need a reliable intermediary to complete the transaction, since they have little experience in cooperation. In such a situation, a letter of credit provides counterparties with flexible payment terms; legal reliability; obtaining short-term loans.

For settlements under a letter of credit, it is typical that the withdrawal of money from the payer's account occurs in parallel with the dispatch of goods to his address. This distinguishes the letter of credit form from other forms of payment, in particular from collection payments. Payments are made by the bank of the payer (recipient of the goods) in accordance with his order and at the expense of his funds or the loan received by him against the documents named in the letter of credit order and subject to other conditions of the order, which the bank brings to the attention of the party authorized to receive payment. At the same time, the money on the letter of credit continues to belong to the recipient of the goods and is withdrawn from the letter of credit only after the seller sends the specified goods and submits the relevant documents to the bank.

Collection is rarely used on the territory of the Russian Federation, not to mention the use in settlements with foreign partners. Ignoring the clear advantages of collection settlements occurs mainly due to the complexity and imperfection of the domestic legislation governing these relations, as well as the low legal culture of Russian entrepreneurs in the field of both international and Russian legislation. Often problems in the choice of forms of payment between Russian entrepreneurs and their foreign partners arise due to elementary ignorance of the regulatory framework.

Settlements by payment orders (bank transfer) are the most commonly used form of payment in property turnover. In some legal relations, the use of this form of payment is a priority. For example, in relations for the supply of goods, the buyer pays for the supplied goods in compliance with the procedure and form of payment provided for in the supply contract. If the procedure and forms of settlements are not determined by agreement of the parties, then settlements are carried out by payment orders.

IN international trade an open account is used for settlements between regular counterparties, with government organizations and in the commission sale of goods in the form of a consignment or in the case of repeated deliveries of a homogeneous product, especially in small lots.

When comparing international forms calculations play an important role risks for exporters and importers. The interests of exporters and importers of goods and services do not coincide: the exporter seeks to receive payments from the importer as soon as possible, while the latter seeks to defer payment until the final sale of the goods. Therefore, the chosen form of payment is a compromise, which takes into account the economic positions of counterparties, the degree of trust in each other, the economic situation, political situation and so on.

The use of a letter of credit in settlements is most beneficial for an exporter who receives an unconditional guarantee of payment before the goods are shipped. At the same time, receipt of payment under a letter of credit (provided that the exporter fulfills the conditions of the letter of credit and submits the documents specified in it to the bank) is not associated with the buyer's consent to payment.

However, for exporters, a letter of credit is the most complex form of payment: receipt of payment from a letter of credit is associated with strict compliance with its conditions, correct design and timely submission to the bank of the documents specified in the letter of credit. By monitoring compliance with the terms of the letter of credit and the submitted documents, banks protect the interests of the buyer, acting on the basis of his instructions.

The use of the letter of credit form is most favorable for the seller of goods (payee). Settlements under a letter of credit are made at its location, which brings the payment closer in time to the time of shipment of goods, helping to accelerate the turnover of the seller's funds. In turn, the untimely opening of a letter of credit by the payer allows him to delay the delivery or even refuse to fulfill the concluded contract, referring to the insolvency of the counterparty. The opening of a letter of credit gives him confidence that the delivered goods will be paid.

Collection settlements carried out in accordance with the Uniform Rules are beneficial for both banks and parties to the transaction. When executing clients' orders, banks do not need to open an additional account or accumulate funds in another way (for example, a letter of credit). The buyer can be sure that after paying the settlement documents he will receive the right to the goods, as well as shipping and title documents. The supplier will be sure that until the moment the money is received, his goods will be at his disposal.

In international banking practice, bank transfers can be used to pay an advance under a contract if its terms contain a provision on the transfer of part of the contract value (15-30%) in advance, i.e. before the goods are shipped. The rest is paid for the actually delivered goods. An advance payment actually means hidden credit for the exporter and is unprofitable for the importer. In addition, the transfer of an advance creates a risk for the importer of losing money if the exporter fails to fulfill the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

In order to protect the importer from the risk of non-return of the advance in case of non-delivery of the goods by the exporter, there are several protection methods in international banking practice:

Obtaining a bank guarantee for the return of the advance - in this case, before the transfer of the advance payment, a guarantee of a first-class bank is issued.

2. Use of a documentary or conditional transfer - in this case, the exporter's bank makes the actual payment of the advance, subject to the exporter providing transport documents within a certain period.

Providing a loan for open account and carrying out settlements in the form under consideration are associated for the seller with the risk of non-payment or late payment for the goods, since the buyer does not issue any debt obligation to the seller upon receipt of the commodity documents. And for the buyer, an open account is a profitable form of settlement and obtaining loans, because. there is no risk of paying for undelivered goods. In addition, interest on the loan is usually not charged. Therefore, firms using an open account often act alternately as sellers and buyers, which is one way to ensure that the parties meet their payment obligations.

Unlike open account settlements, settlements in the form of an advance most often mean that the exporter is credited by the importer. At the same time, on behalf of the exporter for the amount of the advance, the exporter's bank usually issues in favor of the importer a guarantee of the return of the received advance in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

The check form of payment, like the letter of credit, provides certain guarantees to exporters.

Thus, for the exporter, the most preferable are letters of credit, collection, bank and advance transfers. For the importer, the most acceptable are collections with prior acceptance, subsequent transfer (payment after receiving the goods).

Advantages and disadvantages of forms of international payments. The advantage of the letter of credit form of payment - unlike other forms of non-cash payments, the letter of credit guarantees payment to the supplier either at the expense of own funds the buyer, or at the expense of his bank; as well as the presence of control over the fulfillment of the terms of delivery and the terms of the letter of credit by banks.

The disadvantages of the letter of credit form of payment are - complex document flow and high cost, since the buyer's funds in the amount of the letter of credit are diverted from its economic turnover for the duration of the letter of credit; the turnover slows down, since the supplier cannot ship already finished products and incurs additional storage costs. In addition, with a letter of credit form of payment, there are delays in the movement of documents associated with the control of documents in banks and their transfer between banks.

The advantage of the collection form of payment is that they are beneficial to the buyer - banks protect his rights to the goods until the payment of documents or acceptance. Documents received by the buyer for verification remain at the disposal of the bank until the moment of their payment (acceptance) and, in case of non-payment, are returned to the bank indicating the reasons for non-payment (non-acceptance).

However, along with the advantages, settlements by collection have a number of disadvantages. In particular:

Between the shipment of goods, the transfer of documents to the bank and the receipt of payment, there is a large gap in time, which slows down the turnover of the exporter's funds.

By the time the documents are received by the importer's bank, he may refuse to pay for them or become insolvent.

Delivery of goods may precede the receipt of documents by the bank and receipt of shipping documents by the importer, which increases the exporter's risk of non-payment for goods by the importer.

Such situations can be avoided by using telegraphic collection when:

or the importer is notified by telegraph notification of the dispatch of documents containing the main details of the collection order;

or the exporter's bank sends documents to a foreign bank only upon receipt of a notice from him about the crediting of funds to ensure payment.

The main advantage of settlements by checks is the guarantee of payment, the main disadvantage is the complexity of the document flow, since funds are credited to the supplier (check holder) not at the time of presentation of checks to your bank, but only after they are debited from the account of the payer (check drawer).

The disadvantage of bill circulation is associated with the inefficiency of the collection mechanism Money on promissory notes and outstanding legal matters- constantly expanding legal, normative base, there are no methods for banks to provide a loan in the form of a bill of exchange.

In addition, the type of product - the object of the transaction, as well as the level of supply and demand for the product - the object of the transaction, is important.

The fundamental differences between the main forms of international payments are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Comparative characteristics of the main forms of international payments

Comparison pointBank transferLetter of creditCollectionCredit (including with the help of a promissory note) Check form of paymentImporter's riskMaximum, in case of an advanceMinimumLowSignificantAverage Exporter's riskIn the case of 100% advance - minimumMinimumMediumSignificantMediumShare of participation of banksMinimumMaximum degree of participation (the bank is a guarantor) Medium. There is a benefit for banks. Minimum or absent Minimum (the Bank is not liable to the drawer) Other characteristics The simplest form. Easy and often feasible A very complex form of calculation, but the maximum possible. It is carried out in tight deadlines The most balanced form. For some reason, this form is not recognized by the parties. It largely depends on the reliability of the counterparty. Requires certain guarantees. Limited terms of use

The forms of international payments used differ according to the share of participation of commercial banks in their implementation.

The minimum share of participation of banks is assumed when making a bank transfer. When paying by bank transfer commercial banks execute payment orders of foreign banks or pay, in accordance with the terms of correspondent agreements, bank checks issued on them for monetary obligations of foreign importers, and also issue payment orders and bank checks to foreign banks for monetary obligations of Russian importers.

When performing a transfer operation, the beneficiary's bank is guided by the specific instructions contained in the payment order. For example, the payment order may contain a condition on the payment to the beneficiary of the appropriate amount against the provision of the commercial or financial documents or against giving them a receipt.

When performing a transfer operation, banks take part in settlements by transfer only after the payer provides the bank with a payment order to pay for the contract. In this case, banks are not responsible for the payment. Banks do not control the fact of delivery of goods or transfer of documents to the importer, as well as the execution of payment under the contract. With this form of settlement, the bank's obligations include only the transfer of payment from the account of the transferor to the account of the transferee at the time of the submission of the payment order.

The share of participation of banks in carrying out the collection operation is more significant. The use of payment orders (bank transfer) means that the bank undertakes, on behalf of the payer, at the expense of the funds in his account, to transfer a certain amount of money to the account of the person indicated by the payer in this or another specified bank within the period prescribed by law or established by in accordance with it, if a shorter period is not provided for by the bank account agreement or is not determined by the customs used in banking practice business turnover.

The role of banks in making settlements between counterparties using letters of credit is maximum compared to other forms and consists in mediation, they control only the compliance of the submitted documents with the list of documents specified in the letter of credit. Banks are not responsible for the safety and transportation of goods, for the accuracy of registration, for the legality or reliability of the documents submitted to them. The bank issuing a letter of credit cannot refuse to make a payment if the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit. Thus, banks are only responsible for the financial aspect of the transaction, without assuming any obligations regarding the goods listed in the sales contract.

A check is associated with the availability of funds in the drawer's account and is used as a means of disposing of this account, a private obligation as a means of payment. Repayment of the debt of the holder of a check can take place only if the required amount is available on the account of the drawer. The Bank shall not be liable to the drawer of a check for the payment of a check drawn on it. But the bank may have an agreement with its client that allows you to issue checks in excess of certain size credit balance on the current account - overdraft.

Since international settlements are closely related to credit relations, the presence or absence of credit agreements (both at the interstate level and at the level of counterparties) also influences the choice of the form of settlements.

Since checks are not a lending tool, but a means of managing a current account, their validity periods are limited. According to the Geneva Convention on Checks of 1931, which regulates check circulation in international settlements, its validity period within one country is 8 days, and for payment in other countries - 20-70 days, including the time for payment and transfer of money to the exporter.

So, the choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

Payment for foreign trade transactions, their forms and practice of application. The concept of international payments. Characteristics and main types of settlements under a letter of credit. Collection form of payment, bank transfer. Comparative analysis of forms of international payments.
Brief summary of the material:

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federal state budgetary educational institution higher professional education

Russian Academy of National Economy and public service under the President Russian Federation

"NORTH-WESTERN INSTITUTE"

Department of World and National Economy

Course work

Forms of international payments: Comparative characteristics and practice

3rd year student 3264 groups

Kazmin Yuri Alexandrovich

Scientific director

PhD in Economics, Associate Professor

Khodachek Galina Mikhailovna

Saint Petersburg

• Introduction
• 1.3 Collection form of payment
• 1.4 Bank transfer
• Chapter 2. Comparison of forms of international settlements
• Conclusion
• List of sources used

Introduction

Since the liberalization foreign economic activity issues of organization and management of foreign trade operations are given increased attention, both at the theoretical and practical levels. In connection with global trends in the unification of the methodological base of international trade, the strengthening of integration processes, the emergence of new forms and methods of trade, the the legislative framework in this area of ​​economic activity.

Foreign trade is the most developed form of international economic relations. A feature of the world market at present is the development of interstate forms of its regulation: common trade organizations (GATT / WTO), regional integration associations (EU, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, etc.). The result of this was an increase in the scale and qualitative changes in the nature of international trade, which has a huge impact on the internationalization of the economic life of all countries of the world.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner prescribed by the foreign economic agreement.

Relevance of the topic term paper due to the fact that when concluding a foreign trade transaction, the choice of optimal forms and methods of payment for the goods supplied is one of the key ones - from right choice counterparties of the form and conditions of settlements, as well as the execution of registration and payment procedures, depend on the speed and guarantee of payment, the amount of expenses associated with banking and financial operations, as well as the possibility of preventing claims and losses arising in connection with this.

The purpose of the work is to study the main forms of settlements used in the practice of payment for goods supplied under foreign trade transactions.

Work tasks:

1. To study the essence, purpose, legal support and scheme of application of the main forms of international payments.

2. To determine the directions of the comparative characteristics of the forms of payment to justify the choice of one or another form of payment, stipulated in the foreign trade contract.

Despite the dominant position of documentary settlements over other banking operations, at present this topic has not been sufficiently studied. Absent A complex approach to solve the problem, no consensus in the assessment individual forms international settlements and payment terms of foreign trade transactions.

international settlement form letter of credit

Chapter 1. Payment for foreign trade transactions: forms and practice of application

1.1 The concept of international settlements

Foreign trade is the most developed form of foreign economic activity. The essence of foreign trade is the exchange of goods and services between business entities different countries(export-import operations), based on the internationalization and globalization of world economic relations, intensification international division labor in the conditions of the scientific, technological and information revolution.

Making payments for foreign trade carried out with the help of international payments. International settlements is a system for organizing payments for monetary claims and obligations arising from the implementation of foreign economic activity between states, enterprises (organizations) and citizens located on the territory of different countries.

The subjects of international settlements interacting with each other in the process of movement of documents of title are exporters, importers, banks. Banks that organize the movement of funds of participants in foreign trade activities act as intermediaries.

The procedure for making payments for exported and imported goods (services) is regulated by the legislation of the countries, and is also subject to international rules documentation and payment of bills.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner stipulated in the foreign economic agreement.

Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

1.2 Characteristics and types of settlements under a letter of credit

A letter of credit is an instruction from the buyer's bank (issuing bank) to the supplier's bank to pay the supplier of goods and services on the terms specified in the buyer's letter of credit statement against the relevant documents submitted by the supplier confirming the delivery of goods in accordance with the contract.

A feature of the letter of credit is its strictly formal nature. This means that all interested parties involved in the operation of a letter of credit are dealing with documents, and not with goods, services and / or other types of performance of obligations to which documents may relate.

Settlements under a letter of credit are one of the most commonly used forms of payment for goods (works, services) in foreign economic contracts. When settling under a letter of credit, a bank acting on behalf of the payer and in accordance with his instructions (issuing bank) undertakes to make payments to the recipient of funds or pay, accept or discount a bill of exchange.

Settlements by letters of credit are carried out in accordance with the scheme shown in fig. 1 . The exporter and the importer conclude a contract (1) between themselves, in which they indicate that payments for the delivered goods will be made in the form of a documentary letter of credit. The contract must define the payment procedure, i.e. the conditions of the future letter of credit are clearly and fully formulated. The contract also indicates the bank in which the letter of credit will be opened, the type of letter of credit, the name of the advising and executing bank, the terms of the payment, the list of documents against which the payment will be made, the validity period of the letter of credit, the procedure for paying the bank commission, etc. The terms of payment contained in contract, must be contained in the importer's instruction to the bank to open a letter of credit.

Rice. 1. Scheme of settlements by letters of credit

After the conclusion of the contract, the exporter prepares the goods for shipment and notifies the importer (2). After receiving the exporter's notice, the buyer submits to his bank an application for opening a letter of credit, which indicates the terms of payment contained in the contract (3). After formalizing the opening of a letter of credit, the issuing bank sends a letter of credit to a foreign bank, as a rule, a bank serving the exporter (4) - an advising bank. The advising bank, having verified the authenticity of the received letter of credit, notifies the exporter about the opening and conditions of the letter of credit (5).

The exporter checks the compliance of the terms of the letter of credit with the payment terms of the concluded contract. In case of discrepancy, the exporter notifies the advising bank of non-acceptance of the terms of the letter of credit and the requirement to change them. If the exporter accepts the terms of the letter of credit opened in his favor, he ships the goods within the terms established by the contract (6). Having received from transport organization transport documents (7), the exporter submits them, together with other documents stipulated by the terms of the letter of credit, to his bank (8).

The Bank checks whether the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit, the completeness of the documents, the correctness of their preparation and execution, the consistency of the details contained in them. After checking the documents, the exporter's bank sends them to the exporting bank (9) for payment or acceptance. IN cover letter specifies the procedure for crediting the proceeds to the exporter.

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Chapter 2. Comparison of forms of international settlements

In the practice of international trade, the form of payment for the delivered products, work performed or services is of great importance. Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

These forms of international payments are used for payments, both in cash and on credit. At the same time, bank transfers are used in settlements for cash, documentary letters of credit, as well as in settlements using a commercial loan.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors.

Application. A letter of credit is used if the buyer and seller of the goods are far from each other or need a reliable intermediary to complete the transaction, since they have little experience in cooperation. In such a situation, a letter of credit provides counterparties with flexible payment terms; legal reliability; obtaining short-term loans.

For settlements under a letter of credit, it is typical that the withdrawal of money from the payer's account occurs in parallel with the dispatch of goods to his address. This distinguishes the letter of credit form from other forms of payment, in particular from collection payments. Payments are made by the bank of the payer (recipient of the goods) in accordance with his order and at the expense of his funds or the loan received by him against the documents named in the letter of credit order and subject to other conditions of the order, which the bank brings to the attention of the party authorized to receive payment. At the same time, the money on the letter of credit continues to belong to the recipient of the goods and is withdrawn from the letter of credit only after the seller sends the specified goods and submits the relevant documents to the bank.

Collection is rarely used on the territory of the Russian Federation, not to mention the use in settlements with foreign partners. Ignoring the clear advantages of collection settlements occurs mainly due to the intricacies and imperfections of the domestic legislation governing these relations, as well as the low legal culture of Russian entrepreneurs in the field of both international and Russian legislation. Often, problems in choosing the forms of payment between Russian entrepreneurs and their foreign partners arise due to elementary ignorance of the regulatory framework.

Settlements by payment orders (bank transfer) are the most commonly used form of payment in property turnover. In some legal relations, the use of this form of payment is a priority. For example, in relations for the supply of goods, the buyer pays for the supplied goods in compliance with the procedure and form of payment provided for in the supply contract. If the procedure and forms of settlements are not determined by agreement of the parties, then settlements are carried out by payment orders.

In international trade, an open account is used for settlements between regular contractors, with government organizations and for commission sales of goods in the form of consignment or for multiple deliveries of homogeneous goods, especially in small lots.

When comparing international forms of payment, the risks of exporters and importers play an important role. The interests of exporters and importers of goods and services do not coincide: the exporter seeks to receive payments from the importer as soon as possible, while the latter seeks to defer payment until the final sale of the goods. Therefore, the chosen form of payment is a compromise, which takes into account the economic positions of counterparties, the degree of trust in each other, the economic situation, the political situation, etc.

The use of a letter of credit in settlements is most beneficial for an exporter who receives an unconditional guarantee of payment before the goods are shipped. At the same time, receipt of payment under a letter of credit (provided that the exporter fulfills the conditions of the letter of credit and submits the documents specified in it to the bank) is not associated with the buyer's consent to payment.

However, for exporters, a letter of credit is the most difficult form of payment: receipt of payment from a letter of credit is associated with strict observance of its conditions, correct execution and timely submission to the bank of the documents specified in the letter of credit. By monitoring compliance with the terms of the letter of credit and the submitted documents, banks protect the interests of the buyer, acting on the basis of his instructions.

The use of the letter of credit form is most favorable for the seller of goods (payee). Settlements under a letter of credit are made at its location, which brings the payment closer in time to the time of shipment of goods, helping to accelerate the turnover of the seller's funds. In turn, the untimely opening of a letter of credit by the payer allows him to delay the delivery or even refuse to fulfill the concluded contract, referring to the insolvency of the counterparty. The opening of a letter of credit gives him confidence that the delivered goods will be paid.

Collection settlements carried out in accordance with the Uniform Rules are beneficial for both banks and parties to the transaction. When executing clients' orders, banks do not need to open an additional account or accumulate funds in another way (for example, a letter of credit). The buyer can be sure that after paying the settlement documents he will receive the right to the goods, as well as shipping and title documents. The supplier will be sure that until the moment the money is received, his goods will be at his disposal.

In international banking practice, bank transfers can be used to pay an advance under a contract if its terms contain a provision on the transfer of part of the contract value (15-30%) in advance, i.e. before the goods are shipped. The rest is paid for the actually delivered goods. An advance payment actually means hidden credit for the exporter and is unprofitable for the importer. In addition, the transfer of an advance creates a risk for the importer of losing money if the exporter fails to fulfill the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

In order to protect the importer from the risk of non-return of the advance in case of non-delivery of the goods by the exporter, there are several protection methods in international banking practice:

1. Obtaining a bank guarantee for the return of the advance - in this case, before the transfer of the advance payment, a guarantee of a first-class bank is issued.

2. Use of a documentary or conditional transfer - in this case, the exporter's bank makes the actual payment of the advance, subject to the exporter providing transport documents within a certain period.

Providing a loan on an open account and making settlements in this form are associated for the seller with the risk of non-payment or late payment for the goods, since the buyer does not issue any debt obligation to the seller upon receipt of the commodity documents. And for the buyer, an open account is a profitable form of settlement and obtaining loans, because. there is no risk of paying for undelivered goods. In addition, interest on the loan is usually not charged. Therefore, firms using an open account often act alternately as sellers and buyers, which is one way to ensure that the parties meet their payment obligations.

Unlike open account settlements, settlements in the form of an advance most often mean that the exporter is credited by the importer. At the same time, on behalf of the exporter for the amount of the advance, the exporter's bank usually issues in favor of the importer a guarantee of the return of the received advance in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

The check form of payment, like the letter of credit, provides certain guarantees to exporters.

Thus, for the exporter, the most preferable are letters of credit, collection, bank and advance transfers. For the importer, the most acceptable are collections with prior acceptance, subsequent transfer (payment after receiving the goods).

Advantages and disadvantages of forms of international payments. The advantage of the letter of credit form of payment - unlike other forms of non-cash payments, the letter of credit guarantees payment to the supplier either at the expense of the buyer's own funds or at the expense of his bank; as well as the presence of control over the fulfillment of the terms of delivery and the terms of the letter of credit by banks.

The disadvantages of the letter of credit form of payment are - complex document flow and high cost, since the buyer's funds in the amount of the letter of credit are diverted from its economic turnover for the duration of the letter of credit; the turnover slows down, since the supplier, before the notification of the opening of a letter of credit, cannot ship already finished products and incurs additional costs for its storage. In addition, with a letter of credit form of payment, there are delays in the movement of documents associated with the control of documents in banks and their transfer between banks.

The advantage of the collection form of payment is that they are beneficial to the buyer - banks protect his rights to the goods until the payment of documents or acceptance. Documents received by the buyer for verification remain at the disposal of the bank until the moment of their payment (acceptance) and, in case of non-payment, are returned to the bank indicating the reasons for non-payment (non-acceptance).

However, along with the advantages, settlements by collection have a number of disadvantages. In particular:

1. Between the shipment of goods, the transfer of documents to the bank and the receipt of payment, there is a large gap in time, which slows down the turnover of the exporter's funds.

2. By the time the documents are received by the importer's bank, he may refuse to pay for them or become insolvent.

3. Delivery of goods may precede receipt of documents by the bank and receipt of shipping documents by the importer, which increases the exporter's risk of non-payment for goods by the importer.

Such situations can be avoided by using telegraphic collection when:

or the importer is notified by telegraph notification of the dispatch of documents containing the main details of the collection order;

or the exporter's bank sends documents to a foreign bank only upon receipt of a notice from him about the crediting of funds to ensure payment.

The main advantage of settlements by checks is the guarantee of payment, the main disadvantage is the complexity of the document flow, since funds are credited to the supplier (check holder) not at the time of presentation of checks to your bank, but only after they are debited from the account of the payer (check drawer).

The disadvantage of bill circulation is associated with the inefficiency of the mechanism for collecting funds on bills and unresolved legal issues - the legal and regulatory framework is constantly expanding, there are no methods for banks to provide a loan in the form of a bill.

In addition, the type of product - the object of the transaction, as well as the level of supply and demand for the product - the object of the transaction, is important.

The fundamental differences between the main forms of international payments are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Comparative characteristics of the main forms of international payments

Comparison point	Bank transfer	Letter of credit		Credit (including with the help of a promissory note)	Check form of payment
Importer risk	Maximum, in case of advance payment	Minimum		Significant
Exporter risk	In case of 100% advance - minimum	Minimum		Significant
Bank share	Minimum	Maximum degree of participation (the bank is the guarantor)	There is a benefit for banks.	Minimal or absent	Minimum (the Bank is not liable to the issuer of the check)
Other characteristics	The simplest form. Easy and often feasible	A very complex form of calculation, but the maximum possible. Implemented within tight deadlines	The most balanced form. For some reason this form is not recognized by the parties	It largely depends on the reliability of the counterparty. Requires certain guarantees.	Limited terms of use

The applied forms of international settlements differ in the share of participation of commercial banks in their implementation.

The minimum share of participation of banks is assumed when making a bank transfer. When making bank transfer payments, commercial banks execute payment orders of foreign banks or pay, in accordance with the terms of correspondent agreements, bank checks issued on them for monetary obligations of foreign importers, and also issue payment orders and bank checks to foreign banks for monetary obligations of Russian importers.

When performing a transfer operation, the beneficiary's bank is guided by the specific instructions contained in the payment order. For example, a payment order may contain a condition on the payment to the beneficiary of the appropriate amount against the provision by him of the commercial or financial documents specified in the payment order or against the provision of a receipt.

When performing a transfer operation, banks take part in settlements by transfer only after the payer provides the bank with a payment order to pay for the contract. In this case, banks are not responsible for the payment. Banks do not control the fact of delivery of goods or transfer of documents to the importer, as well as the execution of payment under the contract. With this form of settlement, the bank's obligations include only the transfer of payment from the account of the transferor to the account of the transferee at the time of the submission of the payment order.

The share of participation of banks in carrying out the collection operation is more significant. The use of payment orders (bank transfer) means that the bank undertakes, on behalf of the payer, at the expense of the funds in his account, to transfer a certain amount of money to the account of the person indicated by the payer in this or another specified bank within the period provided for by law or established by in accordance with it, if a shorter period is not provided for by the bank account agreement or is not determined by the customs of business turnover applied in banking practice.

The role of banks in making settlements between counterparties using letters of credit is maximum compared to other forms and consists in mediation, they control only the compliance of the submitted documents with the list of documents specified in the letter of credit. Banks are not responsible for the safety and transportation of goods, for the accuracy of registration, for the legality or reliability of the documents submitted to them. The bank issuing a letter of credit cannot refuse to make a payment if the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit. Thus, banks are only responsible for the financial aspect of the transaction, without assuming any obligations regarding the goods listed in the sales contract.

A check is associated with the availability of funds in the drawer's account and is used as a means of disposing of this account, a private obligation as a means of payment. Repayment of the debt of the holder of a check can take place only if the required amount is available on the account of the drawer. The Bank shall not be liable to the drawer of a check for the payment of a check drawn on it. But a bank may have an agreement with its client that allows it to issue checks to its account that exceed in a certain amount the credit balance on the current account - an overdraft.

Since international settlements are closely related to credit relations, the presence or absence of credit agreements (both at the interstate level and at the level of counterparties) also influences the choice of the form of settlements.

Since checks are not a lending tool, but a means of managing a current account, their validity periods are limited. According to the Geneva Convention on Checks of 1931, which regulates check circulation in international settlements, its validity period within one country is 8 days, and for payment in other countries - 20-70 days, including the time for payment and transfer of money to the exporter.

So, the choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

Foreign economic activity

International settlements include payments for monetary claims and obligations arising in the course of foreign trade transactions and other relations between foreign firms, companies, organizations and individuals. And this, in turn...

Foreign economic activity of the enterprise

International settlements include payments for monetary claims and obligations arising in the course of foreign trade transactions and other relations between foreign firms, companies, organizations and individuals. And this, in turn...

Activities of international monetary credit institutions

Activities of international economic organizations

BIS is the oldest of the international financial institutions- was established in 1930. In addition to most of the countries of Western and Northern Europe, as well as six countries of Eastern Europe (a legacy of the period between the two world wars), it includes the United States ...

International Monetary and Credit Organizations

BIS is the first international bank. It was created in 1930 on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement between England, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and Japan. These states have also signed a convention with Switzerland...

International finance

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS; Bank for International Settlements) is the oldest existing international monetary and financial organization. It was created in 1930 in Basel, Switzerland by the central banks of England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy...

Organization of settlement relations in international economic turnover

The form of settlements in foreign trade is understood as the methods of registration, transfer and payment of documents of title that have developed in international commercial and banking practice ...

Main forms of international payments

The form of payment is a method of transferring funds to pay off the obligations of the payer to the recipient. World practice has developed the following forms settlements: 1. Letter of credit 2. Collection 3. Bank transfer, etc...

Settlements in foreign economic activity

As already mentioned, in the Republic of Belarus, relations between participants in international settlements are regulated Civil Code, the Banking Code, which entered into force on January 1, 2001, the Instructions of the National Bank ...

The role of international settlements

International settlements are the organization and regulation of payments for monetary claims and obligations of the country. These claims and obligations in foreign currency arise in the course of the formation of economic, scientific and technical ...

Forms of international settlements used in settlements for export and import of goods

A significant part of operations in foreign currency carried out by authorized banks is associated with servicing the international trade turnover, i.e. with payments for goods and services ...

Forms of international settlements: comparative characteristics and practice of application

Foreign trade is the most developed form of foreign economic activity. The essence of foreign trade is the exchange of goods and services between business entities of different countries (export-import operations) ...

Forms of payment in foreign trade

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Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation

"NORTH-WESTERN INSTITUTE"

Department of World and National Economy

Course work

Forms of international settlements: comparative characteristics and practice of application

3rd year student 3264 groups

Kazmin Yuri Alexandrovich

Scientific director

PhD in Economics, Associate Professor

Khodachek Galina Mikhailovna

Saint Petersburg

• Introduction
• 1.4 Bank transfer
• Conclusion

Introduction

Since the liberalization of foreign economic activity, the issues of organization and management of foreign trade operations have received increased attention, both at the theoretical and practical levels. In connection with global trends in the unification of the methodological base of international trade, the strengthening of integration processes, the emergence of new forms and methods of trade, the legislative base in this area of ​​economic activity is dynamically developing.

Foreign trade is the most developed form of international economic relations. A feature of the world market at present is the development of interstate forms of its regulation: common trade organizations (GATT / WTO), regional integration associations (EU, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, etc.). The result of this was an increase in the scale and qualitative changes in the nature of international trade, which has a huge impact on the internationalization of the economic life of all countries of the world.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner prescribed by the foreign economic agreement.

The relevance of the topic of the course work is due to the fact that when concluding a foreign trade transaction, the choice of optimal forms and methods of payment for the goods supplied is one of the key ones - the speed and guarantee of payment, the amount expenses associated with banking and financial transactions, as well as the possibility of preventing claims and losses arising in connection with this.

The purpose of the work is to study the main forms of settlements used in the practice of payment for goods supplied under foreign trade transactions.

Work tasks:

1. To study the essence, purpose, legal support and scheme of application of the main forms of international payments.

2. To determine the directions of the comparative characteristics of the forms of payment to justify the choice of one or another form of payment, stipulated in the foreign trade contract.

Despite the dominant position of documentary settlements over other banking operations, at present this topic has not been sufficiently studied. There is no comprehensive approach to solving the problem, there is no consensus in assessing certain forms of international settlements and payment terms of foreign trade transactions.

international settlement form letter of credit

Chapter 1. Payment for foreign trade transactions: forms and practice of application

1.1 The concept of international settlements

Foreign trade is the most developed form of foreign economic activity. The essence of foreign trade lies in the exchange of goods and services between economic entities of different countries (export-import operations), based on the internationalization and globalization of world economic relations, the intensification of the international division of labor in the conditions of the scientific, technological and information revolution.

Implementation of payments in foreign trade is carried out with the help of international settlements. International settlements is a system for organizing payments for monetary claims and obligations arising from the implementation of foreign economic activity between states, enterprises (organizations) and citizens located on the territory of different countries.

The subjects of international settlements interacting with each other in the process of movement of documents of title are exporters, importers, banks. Banks that organize the movement of funds of participants in foreign trade activities act as intermediaries.

The procedure for making payments for exported and imported goods (services) is regulated by the legislation of the countries, and is also subject to international rules for documenting and paying for payment documents.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner stipulated in the foreign economic agreement.

1.2 Characteristics and types of settlements under a letter of credit

A letter of credit is an instruction from the buyer's bank (issuing bank) to the supplier's bank to pay the supplier of goods and services on the terms specified in the buyer's letter of credit statement against the relevant documents submitted by the supplier confirming the delivery of goods in accordance with the contract.

A feature of the letter of credit is its strictly formal nature. This means that all interested parties involved in the operation of a letter of credit are dealing with documents, and not with goods, services and / or other types of performance of obligations to which documents may relate.

Settlements under a letter of credit are one of the most commonly used forms of payment for goods (works, services) in foreign economic contracts. When settling under a letter of credit, a bank acting on behalf of the payer and in accordance with his instructions (issuing bank) undertakes to make payments to the recipient of funds or pay, accept or discount a bill of exchange.

Settlements by letters of credit are carried out in accordance with the scheme shown in fig. 1 . The exporter and the importer conclude a contract (1) between themselves, in which they indicate that payments for the delivered goods will be made in the form of a documentary letter of credit. The contract must define the payment procedure, i.e. the conditions of the future letter of credit are clearly and fully formulated. The contract also indicates the bank in which the letter of credit will be opened, the type of letter of credit, the name of the advising and executing bank, the terms of the payment, the list of documents against which the payment will be made, the validity period of the letter of credit, the procedure for paying the bank commission, etc. The terms of payment contained in contract, must be contained in the importer's instruction to the bank to open a letter of credit.

Rice. 1. Scheme of settlements by letters of credit

After the conclusion of the contract, the exporter prepares the goods for shipment and notifies the importer (2). After receiving the exporter's notice, the buyer submits to his bank an application for opening a letter of credit, which indicates the terms of payment contained in the contract (3). After formalizing the opening of a letter of credit, the issuing bank sends a letter of credit to a foreign bank, as a rule, a bank serving the exporter (4) - an advising bank. The advising bank, having verified the authenticity of the received letter of credit, notifies the exporter about the opening and conditions of the letter of credit (5).

The exporter checks the compliance of the terms of the letter of credit with the payment terms of the concluded contract. In case of discrepancy, the exporter notifies the advising bank of non-acceptance of the terms of the letter of credit and the requirement to change them. If the exporter accepts the terms of the letter of credit opened in his favor, he ships the goods within the terms established by the contract (6). Having received transport documents (7) from the transport organization, the exporter submits them, together with other documents stipulated by the terms of the letter of credit, to his bank (8).

The Bank checks whether the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit, the completeness of the documents, the correctness of their preparation and execution, the consistency of the details contained in them. After checking the documents, the exporter's bank sends them to the exporting bank (9) for payment or acceptance. The cover letter specifies the procedure for crediting the proceeds to the exporter.

Upon receipt of the documents, the issuing bank carefully checks them, and then transfers the payment amount to the bank serving the exporter (10). The importer's account (11) is debited for the payment amount. The exporter's bank credits the proceeds to the exporter's account (12). The importer, having received commercial documents (13) from the issuing bank, takes possession of the goods.

From a practical point of view, all letters of credit are divided into two large groups:

cash letters of credit

commercial letters of credit.

A money letter of credit is a nominal document issued by a bank to a person who has deposited a certain amount to receive it in another bank, city or country within a certain period. A documentary letter of credit is an instruction from a bank serving the buyer to the supplier's bank to pay the supplier's invoices for shipped inventory items on the terms stipulated by the buyer and specified in the letter of credit.

In addition, letters of credit are divided into:

revocable and irrevocable letters of credit;

confirmed and unconfirmed letters of credit.

A revocable letter of credit is a letter of credit that can be canceled both by the bank that opened it and by the buyer during the validity period of the letter of credit. An irrevocable letter of credit is a letter of credit that cannot be canceled during its validity period without the consent of the supplier. A confirmed letter of credit contains the confirmation of a first-class bank, which is equivalent to an additional guarantee of payment to the supplier of the shipped goods. An unconfirmed letter of credit contains no guarantees from a first-class bank.

IN international practice such types of letters of credit are used as transferable (transferable), reserve, renewable (revolving), early opening, letters of credit with a "red clause", compensatory letters of credit and letters of credit of preferential action, etc.

A transferable (transferable) letter of credit is increasingly used in international practice. It allows you to make payments from it not only in favor of the beneficiary, but also to third parties - the second beneficiaries. The transfer of a letter of credit in favor of third parties is made at the request of the beneficiary in whole or in part. A transferable letter of credit is usually used if the beneficiary is not the supplier of the goods or the delivery is made through an intermediary.

The second beneficiary, having shipped the goods to the importer, submits to the bank commercial documents that comply with the terms of the letter of credit in order to receive payment. The beneficiary, in whose favor a transferable letter of credit has been opened, is granted the right to replace the invoices (and drafts) provided by the second beneficiary with his own invoices (and drafts) and receive a possible difference between the amounts of these invoices.

If the terms of the letter of credit do not provide for the possibility of its transfer, and the beneficiary under the letter of credit is not the supplier of the goods, a compensatory letter of credit may be used in the calculations. It is opened by the beneficiary under the main, basic letter of credit as a counter letter of credit in favor of the manufacturer of goods or a sub-supplier. Basic and back-to-back letters of credit are independent and legal relation not related. When opening a compensatory letter of credit, the conditions of the compensatory letter of credit must comply with the conditions stipulated by the basic letter of credit. This concerns, first of all, the conditions for the delivery of goods and the requirements for the submitted documents. If the conditions of the basic and back-to-back letters of credit are the same and the same documents must be submitted to receive payment under the letter of credit, then the documents submitted by the supplier under the back-to-back letter of credit can be used to pay under the basic letter of credit. If the conditions of the basic and back-to-back letters of credit do not match, the seller needs to supplement the set of documents received from the supplier during the implementation of the back-to-back letter of credit.

To ensure payment under a back-to-back letter of credit, its validity period must exceed the period of validity of the underlying letter of credit.

When goods are supplied in equal lots, a revolving (renewable) letter of credit can be used in the calculations. A revolving letter of credit provides for replenishment of the letter of credit by a certain amount (quota) or up to the initial amount as it is used. When opening a revolving letter of credit, as a rule, the total amount of the letter of credit, the size of one quota and the number of quotas, as well as the term for using the quota are indicated.

To ensure payment under a letter of credit, a letter of credit with currency coverage may be opened. When opening covered letters of credit, the issuing bank makes available to the foreign bank executing the letter of credit foreign currency in the amount of the opened letter of credit for the term of its validity, subject to the use of these funds for payments under the letter of credit.

Providing currency coverage when opening a letter of credit, it leads to the freezing of the funds of the issuing bank for the period of its validity. Therefore, in international practice, uncovered letters of credit are mainly used, which do not require the withdrawal of funds from the issuing bank at the time of opening the letter of credit.

In international practice, sometimes a letter of credit "with a red clause" is used, which provides for the issuance by the executing bank to the exporter of advances up to a certain amount. The advance is usually used by the beneficiary for the purchase of goods intended for export. In fact, part of the amount of the letter of credit goes to pay for unshipped goods. Banks issue advances against the presentation by the exporter of a "commitment to ship" or other similar document. By opening a letter of credit "with a red clause", the issuing bank undertakes to reimburse the executing bank for the amount of paid advances even if the shipment of goods under this letter of credit was not completed.

As a way to fulfill obligations under a contract in international practice, a standby (guarantee) letter of credit is used, according to which the seller does not need to submit documents for the goods to the bank that opened the letter of credit if the buyer pays for the goods within the agreed period. Such a letter of credit is paid by the issuing bank only if the buyer has not made payment on time. Essentially, this type of letter of credit is a guarantee obligation. The advantage of a guarantee letter of credit lies in its "reusability", i.e. it can be used when buying several batches of goods.

The procedure for settlements under a letter of credit in the legislation of the Russian Federation is currently determined by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Chapter 46 § 3 "Calculations under a letter of credit"). In the field of foreign trade, settlements under letters of credit are also carried out in accordance with the instructions of the Vneshtorgbank of the USSR No. 1 dated December 25, 1985 on the procedure for performing banking operations for international settlements.

In international trade, the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Letters of Credit (Edition 2007), a publication of the International chamber of commerce No. 600 (UCP-600), which were the result of many years of efforts to systematize international trade and banking practices. These Rules are a private (unofficial) codification and, to a certain extent, the unification of the business practices that have developed in practice.

1.3 Collection form of payment

One of the most balanced forms of settlements, both for the buyer and the supplier, are collection settlements. Collection is an order from the exporter to his bank to receive from the importer (directly or through another bank) a certain amount or confirmation (acceptance) that this amount will be paid on time. Collection is used in settlements both under the terms of payment in cash and using a commercial loan.

During collection operations, banks and their clients are guided by the Uniform Rules for Collection - the main international normative document governing this form of payment.

The unified rules determine the types of collection, the procedure for providing documents for payment and making a payment, acceptance, the procedure for notifying a payment, acceptance or non-payment (non-acceptance), determine the obligations and responsibilities of the parties, give a uniform interpretation of various terms and resolve other issues.

According to the Uniform Rules, collection is an operation carried out by banks on the basis of instructions received with documents in order to:

receiving acceptance and/or payment;

issuance of commercial documents against acceptance and/or payment;

issuance of documents on other terms.

Depending on the types of documents with which the collection operation is carried out, there are two types of collection:

net collection, i.e. collection of financial documents, which include checks, bills of exchange, payment receipts and other documents used to receive payment in money;

documentary collection, i.e. collection of commercial documents, which may or may not be accompanied by financial documents.

The participants of the collection operation are:

principal - a client who entrusts the collection operation to his bank;

remitting bank - a bank to which the principal entrusts the collection operation;

collecting bank - any bank, which is not a remitting bank, participating in the operation of executing a collection order;

presenting bank - a bank directly receiving payment or acceptance, making the submission of documents to the payer;

payer - a person to whom documents must be submitted in accordance with a collection order.

Settlements in the form of collection are built as follows (Fig. 2): after the conclusion of a contract (1), in which the parties stipulate through which banks, in accordance with the terms of the concluded contract, settlements will be made, the exporter ships the goods (2). Having received transport documents from the transport organization (3), the exporter prepares a set of documents, which includes commercial and, possibly, financial documents, and submits it to his bank (remitting bank) at the collection order (4). Having received documents from the principal, the remitting bank checks them according to outward signs specified in the collection order, and then acts in accordance with the principal's instructions contained in this order and the Uniform Rules.

Rice. 2. Settlement scheme for collection

The remitting bank presents the documents to the collecting bank (5), which is usually the bank of the importing country (5), which presents them to its client. In case of acceptance (7) the importer's bank transfers the money (8) sends the documents. The remitting bank makes an appropriate statement to its client.

Comparing the provisions of the Uniform Rules with the provisions of Russian regulations, we can conclude that a net collection is represented in our legislation by payment requests and collection orders, and a documentary collection (financial documents accompanied by commercial documents) is carried out on the basis of a payment request-order issued to the payer's account.

Unfortunately, in banking practice, collection orders are often issued instead of payment requests, payment requests instead of payment requests-orders, etc. This confusion could have been avoided if the legislator had established a clear and uniform procedure for collection settlements, which would be carried out by the mandatory submission of a collection order in addition to the rest (in each case, different) documents.

Summing up, it should be noted that when carrying out foreign economic settlements with the help of collection, one should be guided by the provisions of the Rules, and it is also necessary that the party to the transaction, which is aware of the existence of any mandatory norms in its national law, notifies other parties about this. Therefore, when concluding an agreement for the provision of goods, services, etc. the parties must stipulate not only the form of cashless payments, but also the restrictions that exist for this form in the national legislation of the payer's country.

1.4 Bank transfer

A bank transfer is a simple instruction from a bank to its correspondent bank to pay a certain amount of money at the request and at the expense of the transferor to a foreign recipient (beneficiary), indicating the method of reimbursement to the paying bank for the amount paid. A bank transfer is carried out by means of payment orders addressed by one bank to another, and also (if there is a special interbank agreement) through bank checks or other payment documents.

Commercial or shipping documents are sent with this form of payment from the exporter to the importer directly, i.e. bypassing the bank.

The scheme of settlements by bank transfers is shown in Fig.3.

Rice. 3. Scheme of settlements by bank transfers

After the conclusion of the contract (1) between the importer and exporter, the importer sends an application for transfer to the bank (2). The delivery of goods may precede or follow payment, which is determined by the terms of the contract and the currency laws of the countries. The importer's bank, having accepted the payment order from the importer, sends the payment order (3) on its own behalf to the appropriate exporter's bank. Having received a payment order, the bank verifies its authenticity and performs an operation to transfer money (4) to the exporter's account.

The procedure for making settlements by payment orders is regulated by the Civil Code, the Laws on the Central Bank of Russia, on banks and other laws of the Russian Federation, as well as the Regulation on non-cash payments developed in accordance with these laws, which regulates the implementation of non-cash payments between legal entities in the forms provided for by law, determines the formats, procedure filling in and processing the settlement documents used, and also establishes the rules for conducting settlement transactions on correspondent accounts (subaccounts) of credit institutions (branches), including those opened with the CBR, and accounts of interbranch settlements. The regulation on cashless payments does not apply to the procedure for making cashless payments with the participation of individuals.

1.1. Other ways of organizing international payments

Payment for foreign trade transactions can also be carried out using such methods of organizing international settlements as:

1. Settlements on an open account.

2. Calculations in the form of an advance.

3. Currency clearing.

4. Bill form of payment.

5. Check form of payment.

When making settlements on an open account, the seller ships the goods to the buyer and sends documents of title to him, transferring the amount of debt to the debit of the account opened by him in the name of the buyer, makes periodic payments to the exporter after receiving the goods. The latter repays the debt in parts - at intervals stipulated by the contract or after a certain period after the shipment of individual consignments of goods.

After the settlements are completed, the final reconciliation and repayment of the remaining debt is carried out.

Clearing is a netting of payments, i.e. a situation where monetary claims ( accounts receivable) of the participants are repaid by their own monetary obligations (accounts payable) without the use of real money.

Clearing operations are usually classified according to two criteria: the frequency of conducting and the composition of participants. According to the first feature, clearing is divided into one-time, which is carried out episodically as accounts receivable and payable accumulate, or permanent, carried out periodically, regardless of the state of monetary obligations and monetary claims of the clearing participants. Depending on the composition of the participants, clearing can be two- or multilateral.

Currency clearing represents intergovernmental agreements on mutual (non-cash) offset international requirements and obligations based on an agreement between the government of two or more countries. Currency clearing involves the centralization of settlements between the states - parties to the clearing agreement on special clearing accounts opened by authorized banks. This scheme is mandatory for individuals and legal entities whose transactions are subject to the agreement. Importers and exporters, as well as other creditors and borrowers, are not entitled to make mutual settlements other than through currency clearing. Currency clearing is also based on other mandatory elements:

its volume;

clearing currency;

the size of the technical loan

Clearing volume refers to the extent to which payments are covered. With full currency clearing, the entire foreign trade turnover falls under this scheme. With partial clearing, non-trading operations (tourism, maintenance of embassies and trade missions, business trips abroad, etc.) are carried out in the usual way - through correspondent accounts.

The clearing currency is the agreed unit of account (currency) in which clearing accounts are maintained. It can be expressed in the currency of: one of the partner countries; both states or a third country.

Payments or receipts from clearing accounts are made in each of the countries only in terms of national currency at the appropriate rate. Clearing currencies are used exclusively in non-cash form. The source of clearing currencies is mutual lending for the supply of goods and the provision of services by countries participating in the agreements. Clearing currencies are used on the principle that they must be spent in the country where they are earned.

The volume of technical credit (the maximum allowable balance of debt) is necessary to ensure the continuity of settlements; is determined in accordance with the share of the balance of debt in the volume of deliveries. In practice, various methods of regulating the balance of a clearing account are used.

In international transactions, the bill of exchange form of payment is actively used. In accordance with the bill of exchange law, drawn up by the Geneva Convention on bills of exchange and promissory notes of 1930, a bill is "an unconditional monetary obligation of one party to the other. A bill is a means of processing a loan provided in a commodity form to the buyer in the form of a deferred payment" . From the presented definition it follows that the calculations in this form accompany commercial lending.

From the point of view of the interaction of legal entities and the participation of banks in this form of settlement, it is necessary that the importer's bank be a domicile (i.e. payer), and the exporter's bank should have an instruction from the exporter-bill holder to collect (i.e., an instruction to receive) payment for bill.

In this particular case, the bill of exchange form of payment will look like this (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Bill payment scheme

The importer concludes with its bank an agreement-instruction for the domiciliation of bills (1), i.e. to secure payments for them. After receiving the goods (2), the importer issues a promissory note (3) to the exporter, which indicates the term for payment for the goods. The exporter transfers this bill to his bank for collection (4). The exporter's bank notifies the importer's bank with a summons that it has a bill (5). If there is an amount on the importer's current account, the servicing bank can immediately transfer money to the exporter's current account (6). After that, the exporter's bank notifies its client of crediting the amount of payment on the bill (7) to his account and returns the latter to the importer's bank (8). The importer's bank sends its client a bill of exchange with an extract on the completion of the operation on it (9).

If there is no money on the importer's current account, and the due date for payment of the bill comes, then the importer's bank is not responsible for non-payment if there is no special agreement between it and the client on a loan to pay for the bill.

In case of delay, the exporter's bank presents the unpaid bill to the notary's office (10) for a protest (11). Then the unpaid promissory note is returned to the exporter with a protest to make a decision (12).

In international settlements, a check form is also used. A check is a security containing an unconditional order (order) of the drawer of the check to the paying bank to pay the amount specified in it to the holder of the check (bearer) or, at their order, to other persons (order check) at the expense of the drawer's funds available to the bank.

In practice, the following procedure for paying a check is applied:

the check is paid at the expense of the drawer;

payable subject to presenting it for payment within the period established by law;

the payer is obliged to verify the authenticity of the check, as well as that the bearer of the check is a person authorized by it (when paying an endorsed check, the payer is obliged to check the correctness of the endorsements, but not the signatures of the endorsers);

the person who paid the check has the right to demand that the check be handed over to him with a receipt for payment;

payment on a check can be guaranteed in whole or in part by means of an aval (an avalist is liable in the same way as the one for whom he gave an aval);

presenting a check to a bank for collection in order to receive payment is considered to be presenting a check for payment.

The legislation also stipulates the consequences of non-payment of a check (Article 885 of the Civil Code):

if the payer refuses to pay the check, the holder of the check has the right, at his choice, to bring a claim against one, several or all persons liable for the check (drawer, availers, endorsers), who are jointly and severally liable to him;

the holder of a check has the right to demand from the said persons payment of the amount of the check, their costs of receiving payment, as well as interest;

the claim of the check holder against the said persons may be brought within six months from the date of expiration of the term for presenting the check for payment.

The simplified scheme of payments by checks is presented in fig. 5 .

Rice. 5. Check payment scheme

The importer submits to his servicing bank a payment order for depositing (reserving) a certain amount on a deposit account (1) and at the same time submits an application for issuing a check (2). On the basis of these documents, the buyer's bank opens a deposit (3) for its client. After opening the deposit, the bank issues a check (4).

After the shipment of products or the provision of services by the exporter (5), the importer pays for them by check (6). The exporter, within a certain period of time from the receipt of the check, provides it to his bank (7). That, in turn, forwards the check to the importer's bank (8). The importer's bank transfers the money (9). After that, bank statements are made to their customers (10) and (11).

So, the form of payment is the methods of registration, transfer and payment of shipping and payment documents that have developed in international commercial and banking practice.

The main forms of international payments include:

1. Bank transfer.

2. Letter of credit.

3. Collection.

4. Settlements on an open account.

5. Calculations in the form of an advance.

6. Currency clearing.

7. Bill form of payment.

8. Check form of payment.

Chapter 2. Comparison of forms of international settlements

In the practice of international trade, the form of payment for the delivered products, work performed or services is of great importance. Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

These forms of international payments are used for payments, both in cash and on credit. At the same time, bank transfers are used in settlements for cash, documentary letters of credit, as well as in settlements using a commercial loan.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors.

Application. A letter of credit is used if the buyer and seller of the goods are far from each other or need a reliable intermediary to complete the transaction, since they have little experience in cooperation. In such a situation, a letter of credit provides counterparties with flexible payment terms; legal reliability; obtaining short-term loans.

For settlements under a letter of credit, it is typical that the withdrawal of money from the payer's account occurs in parallel with the dispatch of goods to his address. This distinguishes the letter of credit form from other forms of payment, in particular from collection payments. Payments are made by the bank of the payer (recipient of the goods) in accordance with his order and at the expense of his funds or the loan received by him against the documents named in the letter of credit order and subject to other conditions of the order, which the bank brings to the attention of the party authorized to receive payment. At the same time, the money on the letter of credit continues to belong to the recipient of the goods and is withdrawn from the letter of credit only after the seller sends the specified goods and submits the relevant documents to the bank.

Collection is rarely used on the territory of the Russian Federation, not to mention the use in settlements with foreign partners. Ignoring the clear advantages of collection settlements occurs mainly due to the intricacies and imperfections of the domestic legislation governing these relations, as well as the low legal culture of Russian entrepreneurs in the field of both international and Russian legislation. Often, problems in choosing the forms of payment between Russian entrepreneurs and their foreign partners arise due to elementary ignorance of the regulatory framework.

Settlements by payment orders (bank transfer) are the most commonly used form of payment in property turnover. In some legal relations, the use of this form of payment is a priority. For example, in relations for the supply of goods, the buyer pays for the supplied goods in compliance with the procedure and form of payment provided for in the supply contract. If the procedure and forms of settlements are not determined by agreement of the parties, then settlements are carried out by payment orders.

In international trade, an open account is used for settlements between regular contractors, with government organizations and for commission sales of goods in the form of consignment or for multiple deliveries of homogeneous goods, especially in small lots.

When comparing international forms of payment, an important role is played by risks exporters And importers. The interests of exporters and importers of goods and services do not coincide: the exporter seeks to receive payments from the importer as soon as possible, while the latter seeks to defer payment until the final sale of the goods. Therefore, the chosen form of payment is a compromise, which takes into account the economic positions of counterparties, the degree of trust in each other, the economic situation, the political situation, etc.

The use of a letter of credit in settlements is most beneficial for an exporter who receives an unconditional guarantee of payment before the goods are shipped. At the same time, receipt of payment under a letter of credit (provided that the exporter fulfills the conditions of the letter of credit and submits the documents specified in it to the bank) is not associated with the buyer's consent to payment.

However, for exporters, a letter of credit is the most difficult form of payment: receipt of payment from a letter of credit is associated with strict observance of its conditions, correct execution and timely submission to the bank of the documents specified in the letter of credit. By monitoring compliance with the terms of the letter of credit and the submitted documents, banks protect the interests of the buyer, acting on the basis of his instructions.

The use of the letter of credit form is most favorable for the seller of goods (payee). Settlements under a letter of credit are made at its location, which brings the payment closer in time to the time of shipment of goods, helping to accelerate the turnover of the seller's funds. In turn, the untimely opening of a letter of credit by the payer allows him to delay the delivery or even refuse to fulfill the concluded contract, referring to the insolvency of the counterparty. The opening of a letter of credit gives him confidence that the delivered goods will be paid.

Collection settlements carried out in accordance with the Uniform Rules are beneficial for both banks and parties to the transaction. When executing clients' orders, banks do not need to open an additional account or accumulate funds in another way (for example, a letter of credit). The buyer can be sure that after paying the settlement documents he will receive the right to the goods, as well as shipping and title documents. The supplier will be sure that until the moment the money is received, his goods will be at his disposal.

In international banking practice, bank transfers can be used to pay an advance under a contract if its terms contain a provision on the transfer of part of the contract value (15-30%) in advance, i.e. before the goods are shipped. The rest is paid for the actually delivered goods. An advance payment actually means hidden credit for the exporter and is unprofitable for the importer. In addition, the transfer of an advance creates a risk for the importer of losing money if the exporter fails to fulfill the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

In order to protect the importer from the risk of non-return of the advance in case of non-delivery of the goods by the exporter, there are several protection methods in international banking practice:

1. Obtaining a bank guarantee for the return of the advance - in this case, before the transfer of the advance payment, a guarantee of a first-class bank is issued.

2. Use of a documentary or conditional transfer - in this case, the exporter's bank makes the actual payment of the advance, subject to the exporter providing transport documents within a certain period.

Providing a loan on an open account and making settlements in this form are associated for the seller with the risk of non-payment or late payment for the goods, since the buyer does not issue any debt obligation to the seller upon receipt of the commodity documents. And for the buyer, an open account is a profitable form of settlement and obtaining loans, because. there is no risk of paying for undelivered goods. In addition, interest on the loan is usually not charged. Therefore, firms using an open account often act alternately as sellers and buyers, which is one way to ensure that the parties meet their payment obligations.

Unlike open account settlements, settlements in the form of an advance most often mean that the exporter is credited by the importer. At the same time, on behalf of the exporter for the amount of the advance, the exporter's bank usually issues in favor of the importer a guarantee of the return of the received advance in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

The check form of payment, like the letter of credit, provides certain guarantees to exporters.

Thus, for the exporter, the most preferable are letters of credit, collection, bank and advance transfers. For the importer, the most acceptable are collections with prior acceptance, subsequent transfer (payment after receiving the goods).

Advantages And flaws forms international calculations. The advantage of the letter of credit form of payment - unlike other forms of non-cash payments, the letter of credit guarantees payment to the supplier either at the expense of the buyer's own funds or at the expense of his bank; as well as the presence of control over the fulfillment of the terms of delivery and the terms of the letter of credit by banks.

The disadvantages of the letter of credit form of payment are - complex document flow and high cost, since the buyer's funds in the amount of the letter of credit are diverted from its economic turnover for the duration of the letter of credit; the turnover slows down, since the supplier, before the notification of the opening of a letter of credit, cannot ship already finished products and incurs additional costs for its storage. In addition, with a letter of credit form of payment, there are delays in the movement of documents associated with the control of documents in banks and their transfer between banks.

The advantage of the collection form of payment is that they are beneficial to the buyer - banks protect his rights to the goods until the payment of documents or acceptance. Documents received by the buyer for verification remain at the disposal of the bank until the moment of their payment (acceptance) and, in case of non-payment, are returned to the bank indicating the reasons for non-payment (non-acceptance).

However, along with the advantages, settlements by collection have a number of disadvantages. In particular:

1. Between the shipment of goods, the transfer of documents to the bank and the receipt of payment, there is a large gap in time, which slows down the turnover of the exporter's funds.

2. By the time the documents are received by the importer's bank, he may refuse to pay for them or become insolvent.

3. Delivery of goods may precede receipt of documents by the bank and receipt of shipping documents by the importer, which increases the exporter's risk of non-payment for goods by the importer.

Such situations can be avoided by using telegraphic collection when:

or the importer is notified by telegraph notification of the dispatch of documents containing the main details of the collection order;

or the exporter's bank sends documents to a foreign bank only upon receipt of a notice from him about the crediting of funds to ensure payment.

The main advantage of settlements by checks is the guarantee of payment, the main disadvantage is the complexity of the document flow, since funds are credited to the supplier (check holder) not at the time of presentation of checks to your bank, but only after they are debited from the account of the payer (check drawer).

The disadvantage of bill circulation is associated with the inefficiency of the mechanism for collecting funds on bills and unresolved legal issues - the legal and regulatory framework is constantly expanding, there are no methods for banks to provide a loan in the form of a bill.

In addition, the type of product - the object of the transaction, as well as the level of supply and demand for the product - the object of the transaction, is important.

The fundamental differences between the main forms of international payments are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Comparative characteristics of the main forms of international payments

Comparison point	Bank transfer	Letter of credit		Credit (including with the help of a promissory note)	Check form of payment
Importer risk	Maximum, in case of advance payment	Minimum		Significant
Exporter risk	In case of 100% advance - minimum	Minimum		Significant
Bank share	Minimum	Maximum degree of participation (the bank is the guarantor)	There is a benefit for banks.	Minimal or absent	Minimum (the Bank is not liable to the issuer of the check)
Other characteristics	The simplest form. Easy and often feasible	A very complex form of calculation, but the maximum possible. Implemented within tight deadlines	The most balanced form. For some reason this form is not recognized by the parties	It largely depends on the reliability of the counterparty. Requires certain guarantees.	Limited terms of use

The forms of international payments used differ according to share participation commercial banks V their carrying out.

The minimum share of participation of banks is assumed when making a bank transfer. When making bank transfer payments, commercial banks execute payment orders of foreign banks or pay, in accordance with the terms of correspondent agreements, bank checks issued on them for monetary obligations of foreign importers, and also issue payment orders and bank checks to foreign banks for monetary obligations of Russian importers.

When performing a transfer operation, the beneficiary's bank is guided by the specific instructions contained in the payment order. For example, a payment order may contain a condition on the payment to the beneficiary of the appropriate amount against the provision by him of the commercial or financial documents specified in the payment order or against the provision of a receipt.

When performing a transfer operation, banks take part in settlements by transfer only after the payer provides the bank with a payment order to pay for the contract. In this case, banks are not responsible for the payment. Banks do not control the fact of delivery of goods or transfer of documents to the importer, as well as the execution of payment under the contract. With this form of settlement, the bank's obligations include only the transfer of payment from the account of the transferor to the account of the transferee at the time of the submission of the payment order.

The share of participation of banks in carrying out the collection operation is more significant. The use of payment orders (bank transfer) means that the bank undertakes, on behalf of the payer, at the expense of the funds in his account, to transfer a certain amount of money to the account of the person indicated by the payer in this or another specified bank within the period provided for by law or established by in accordance with it, if a shorter period is not provided for by the bank account agreement or is not determined by the customs of business turnover applied in banking practice.

The role of banks in making settlements between counterparties using letters of credit is maximum compared to other forms and consists in mediation, they control only the compliance of the submitted documents with the list of documents specified in the letter of credit. Banks are not responsible for the safety and transportation of goods, for the accuracy of registration, for the legality or reliability of the documents submitted to them. The bank issuing a letter of credit cannot refuse to make a payment if the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit. Thus, banks are only responsible for the financial aspect of the transaction, without assuming any obligations regarding the goods listed in the sales contract.

A check is associated with the availability of funds in the drawer's account and is used as a means of disposing of this account, a private obligation as a means of payment. Repayment of the debt of the holder of a check can take place only if the required amount is available on the account of the drawer. The Bank shall not be liable to the drawer of a check for the payment of a check drawn on it. But a bank may have an agreement with its client that allows it to issue checks to its account that exceed in a certain amount the credit balance on the current account - an overdraft.

Since international settlements are closely related to credit relations, the presence or absence of credit agreements (both at the interstate level and at the level of counterparties) also influences the choice of the form of settlements.

Since checks are not a lending tool, but a means of managing a current account, their validity periods are limited. According to the Geneva Convention on Checks of 1931, which regulates check circulation in international settlements, its validity period within one country is 8 days, and for payment in other countries - 20-70 days, including the time for payment and transfer of money to the exporter.

So, the choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

Conclusion

One of the most difficult problems in the commercial practice of companies is the issue of ensuring the break-even of foreign trade activities, since the latter, from a settlement and financial point of view, is accompanied by an increased risk. The fulfillment by foreign counterparties of financial obligations that are part of the terms of a foreign trade transaction is largely determined by the form of selected settlements and the procedure for their execution, which are subject to international practice, and also depend on the nature of monetary and financial restrictions in the domestic market of the country.

The form of payment is the methods of registration, transfer and payment of shipping and payment documents that have developed in international commercial and banking practice.

Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

The most secure, frequently used, but organizationally complex form of payment between the seller and the buyer is a letter of credit.

The simplest, easiest and most frequently performed form is a bank transfer.

The most balanced form - collection, however, is not popular in Russia.

List of sources used

1. the federal law of the Russian Federation dated 08.12.2003 No. 164-FZ "On the basics of state regulation of foreign trade activities" (as amended on 06.12.2011 No. 409-FZ) // SPS "Consultant" [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: World Wide Web. URL: http://base. consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online. cgi? req=doc; base=law; n=123030

2. Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits

3. (Publication of the International Chamber of Commerce No. 600 dated 1.07.2007) // SPS "Consultant" [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: World Wide Web. URL: http://base. consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online. cgi? req=doc; base=LAW; n= 132534

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Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation

"NORTH-WESTERN INSTITUTE"

Department of World and National Economy

Course work

Forms of international settlements: comparative characteristics and practice of application

3rd year student 3264 groups

Kazmin Yuri Alexandrovich

Scientific director

PhD in Economics, Associate Professor

Khodachek Galina Mikhailovna

Saint Petersburg

G.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Payment for foreign trade transactions: forms and practice of application

1.1 The concept of international settlements

1.2 Characteristics and types of settlements under a letter of credit

1.3 Collection form of payment

1.4 Bank transfer

Chapter 2. Comparison of forms of international settlements

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

Since the liberalization of foreign economic activity, the issues of organization and management of foreign trade operations have received increased attention, both at the theoretical and practical levels. In connection with global trends in the unification of the methodological base of international trade, the strengthening of integration processes, the emergence of new forms and methods of trade, the legislative base in this area of ​​economic activity is dynamically developing.

Foreign trade is the most developed form of international economic relations. A feature of the world market at present is the development of interstate forms of its regulation: common trade organizations (GATT / WTO), regional integration associations (EU, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, etc.). The result of this was an increase in the scale and qualitative changes in the nature of international trade, which has a huge impact on the internationalization of the economic life of all countries of the world.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner prescribed by the foreign economic agreement.

The relevance of the topic of the course work is due to the fact that when concluding a foreign trade transaction, the choice of optimal forms and methods of payment for the goods supplied is one of the key ones - the speed and guarantee of payment, the amount expenses associated with banking and financial transactions, as well as the possibility of preventing claims and losses arising in connection with this.

The purpose of the work is to study the main forms of settlements used in the practice of payment for goods supplied under foreign trade transactions.

Work tasks:

To study the essence, purpose, legal support and scheme of application of the main forms of international payments.

2. To determine the directions of the comparative characteristics of the forms of payment to justify the choice of one or another form of payment, stipulated in the foreign trade contract.

Despite the dominant position of documentary settlements over other banking operations, at present this topic has not been sufficiently studied. There is no comprehensive approach to solving the problem, there is no consensus in assessing certain forms of international settlements and payment terms of foreign trade transactions.

international settlement form letter of credit

Chapter 1. Payment for foreign trade transactions: forms and practice of application

1.1 The concept of international settlements

Foreign trade is the most developed form of foreign economic activity. The essence of foreign trade lies in the exchange of goods and services between economic entities of different countries (export-import operations), based on the internationalization and globalization of world economic relations, the intensification of the international division of labor in the conditions of the scientific, technological and information revolution.

Implementation of payments in foreign trade is carried out with the help of international settlements. International settlements is a system for organizing payments for monetary claims and obligations arising from the implementation of foreign economic activity between states, enterprises (organizations) and citizens located on the territory of different countries.

The subjects of international settlements interacting with each other in the process of movement of documents of title are exporters, importers, banks. Banks that organize the movement of funds of participants in foreign trade activities act as intermediaries.

The procedure for making payments for exported and imported goods (services) is regulated by the legislation of the countries, and is also subject to international rules for documenting and paying for payment documents.

The development of international relations and, first of all, trade, provokes a constant search for payment methods that minimize the risks of both parties involved in civil law relations. The buyer wants to be sure that the goods will be shipped (according to the terms of the contract), the seller - that the goods will be paid for in the manner stipulated in the foreign economic agreement.

Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

1.2 Characteristics and types of settlements under a letter of credit

A letter of credit is an instruction from the buyer's bank (issuing bank) to the supplier's bank to pay the supplier of goods and services on the terms specified in the buyer's letter of credit statement against the relevant documents submitted by the supplier confirming the delivery of goods in accordance with the contract.

A feature of the letter of credit is its strictly formal nature. This means that all interested parties involved in the operation of a letter of credit are dealing with documents, and not with goods, services and / or other types of performance of obligations to which documents may relate.

Settlements under a letter of credit are one of the most commonly used forms of payment for goods (works, services) in foreign economic contracts. When settling under a letter of credit, a bank acting on behalf of the payer and in accordance with his instructions (issuing bank) undertakes to make payments to the recipient of funds or pay, accept or discount a bill of exchange.

Settlements by letters of credit are carried out in accordance with the scheme shown in fig. 1 . The exporter and the importer conclude a contract (1) between themselves, in which they indicate that payments for the delivered goods will be made in the form of a documentary letter of credit. The contract must define the payment procedure, i.e. the conditions of the future letter of credit are clearly and fully formulated. The contract also indicates the bank in which the letter of credit will be opened, the type of letter of credit, the name of the advising and executing bank, the terms of the payment, the list of documents against which the payment will be made, the validity period of the letter of credit, the procedure for paying the bank commission, etc. The terms of payment contained in contract, must be contained in the importer's instruction to the bank to open a letter of credit.

Rice. 1. Scheme of settlements by letters of credit

After the conclusion of the contract, the exporter prepares the goods for shipment and notifies the importer (2). After receiving the exporter's notice, the buyer submits to his bank an application for opening a letter of credit, which indicates the terms of payment contained in the contract (3). After formalizing the opening of a letter of credit, the issuing bank sends a letter of credit to a foreign bank, as a rule, a bank serving the exporter (4) - an advising bank. The advising bank, having verified the authenticity of the received letter of credit, notifies the exporter about the opening and conditions of the letter of credit (5).

The exporter checks the compliance of the terms of the letter of credit with the payment terms of the concluded contract. In case of discrepancy, the exporter notifies the advising bank of non-acceptance of the terms of the letter of credit and the requirement to change them. If the exporter accepts the terms of the letter of credit opened in his favor, he ships the goods within the terms established by the contract (6). Having received transport documents (7) from the transport organization, the exporter submits them, together with other documents stipulated by the terms of the letter of credit, to his bank (8).

The Bank checks whether the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit, the completeness of the documents, the correctness of their preparation and execution, the consistency of the details contained in them. After checking the documents, the exporter's bank sends them to the exporting bank (9) for payment or acceptance. The cover letter specifies the procedure for crediting the proceeds to the exporter.

Upon receipt of the documents, the issuing bank carefully checks them, and then transfers the payment amount to the bank serving the exporter (10). The importer's account (11) is debited for the payment amount. The exporter's bank credits the proceeds to the exporter's account (12). The importer, having received commercial documents (13) from the issuing bank, takes possession of the goods.

From a practical point of view, all letters of credit are divided into two large groups:

cash letters of credit

commercial letters of credit.

A money letter of credit is a nominal document issued by a bank to a person who has deposited a certain amount to receive it in another bank, city or country within a certain period. A documentary letter of credit is an instruction from a bank serving the buyer to the supplier's bank to pay the supplier's invoices for shipped inventory items on the terms stipulated by the buyer and specified in the letter of credit.

In addition, letters of credit are divided into:

revocable and irrevocable letters of credit;

confirmed and unconfirmed letters of credit.

A revocable letter of credit is a letter of credit that can be canceled both by the bank that opened it and by the buyer during the validity period of the letter of credit. An irrevocable letter of credit is a letter of credit that cannot be canceled during its validity period without the consent of the supplier. A confirmed letter of credit contains the confirmation of a first-class bank, which is equivalent to an additional guarantee of payment to the supplier of the shipped goods. An unconfirmed letter of credit contains no guarantees from a first-class bank.

In international practice, such types of letters of credit are used as transferable (transferable), reserve, renewable (revolving), early opening, letters of credit with a "red clause", compensatory letters of credit and letters of credit of preferential action, etc.

A transferable (transferable) letter of credit is increasingly used in international practice. It allows you to make payments from it not only in favor of the beneficiary, but also to third parties - the second beneficiaries. The transfer of a letter of credit in favor of third parties is made at the request of the beneficiary in whole or in part. A transferable letter of credit is usually used if the beneficiary is not the supplier of the goods or the delivery is made through an intermediary.

The second beneficiary, having shipped the goods to the importer, submits to the bank commercial documents that comply with the terms of the letter of credit in order to receive payment. The beneficiary, in whose favor a transferable letter of credit has been opened, is granted the right to replace the invoices (and drafts) provided by the second beneficiary with his own invoices (and drafts) and receive a possible difference between the amounts of these invoices.

If the terms of the letter of credit do not provide for the possibility of its transfer, and the beneficiary under the letter of credit is not the supplier of the goods, a compensatory letter of credit may be used in the calculations. It is opened by the beneficiary under the main, basic letter of credit as a counter letter of credit in favor of the manufacturer of goods or a sub-supplier. Basic and back-to-back letters of credit are independent and legally unrelated. When opening a compensatory letter of credit, the conditions of the compensatory letter of credit must comply with the conditions stipulated by the basic letter of credit. This concerns, first of all, the conditions for the delivery of goods and the requirements for the submitted documents. If the conditions of the basic and back-to-back letters of credit are the same and the same documents must be submitted to receive payment under the letter of credit, then the documents submitted by the supplier under the back-to-back letter of credit can be used to pay under the basic letter of credit. If the conditions of the basic and back-to-back letters of credit do not match, the seller needs to supplement the set of documents received from the supplier during the implementation of the back-to-back letter of credit.

To ensure payment under a back-to-back letter of credit, its validity period must exceed the period of validity of the underlying letter of credit.

When goods are supplied in equal lots, a revolving (renewable) letter of credit can be used in the calculations. A revolving letter of credit provides for replenishment of the letter of credit by a certain amount (quota) or up to the initial amount as it is used. When opening a revolving letter of credit, as a rule, the total amount of the letter of credit, the size of one quota and the number of quotas, as well as the term for using the quota are indicated.

To ensure payment under a letter of credit, a letter of credit with currency coverage may be opened. When opening covered letters of credit, the issuing bank makes available to the foreign bank executing the letter of credit foreign currency in the amount of the opened letter of credit for the term of its validity, subject to the use of these funds for payments under the letter of credit.

The provision of foreign exchange coverage when opening a letter of credit leads to the freezing of funds of the issuing bank for the period of its validity. Therefore, in international practice, uncovered letters of credit are mainly used, which do not require the withdrawal of funds from the issuing bank at the time of opening the letter of credit.

In international practice, sometimes a letter of credit "with a red clause" is used, which provides for the issuance by the executing bank to the exporter of advances up to a certain amount. The advance is usually used by the beneficiary for the purchase of goods intended for export. In fact, part of the amount of the letter of credit goes to pay for unshipped goods. Banks issue advances against the presentation by the exporter of a "commitment to ship" or other similar document. By opening a letter of credit "with a red clause", the issuing bank undertakes to reimburse the executing bank for the amount of paid advances even if the shipment of goods under this letter of credit was not completed.

As a way to fulfill obligations under a contract in international practice, a standby (guarantee) letter of credit is used, according to which the seller does not need to submit documents for the goods to the bank that opened the letter of credit if the buyer pays for the goods within the agreed period. Such a letter of credit is paid by the issuing bank only if the buyer has not made payment on time. Essentially, this type of letter of credit is a guarantee obligation. The advantage of a guarantee letter of credit lies in its "reusability", i.e. it can be used when buying several batches of goods.

The procedure for settlements under a letter of credit in the legislation of the Russian Federation is currently determined by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Chapter 46 § 3 "Calculations under a letter of credit"). In the field of foreign trade, settlements under letters of credit are also carried out in accordance with the instructions of the Vneshtorgbank of the USSR No. 1 dated December 25, 1985 on the procedure for performing banking operations for international settlements.

In international trade, the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (2007 edition), International Chamber of Commerce Publication No. 600 (UCP-600), has been developed and is widely used, which was the result of many years of efforts to systematize international trade and banking practices. These Rules are a private (unofficial) codification and, to a certain extent, the unification of the business practices that have developed in practice.

1.3 Collection form of payment

One of the most balanced forms of settlements, both for the buyer and the supplier, are collection settlements. Collection is an order from the exporter to his bank to receive from the importer (directly or through another bank) a certain amount or confirmation (acceptance) that this amount will be paid on time. Collection is used in settlements both under the terms of payment in cash and using a commercial loan.

The unified rules determine the types of collection, the procedure for providing documents for payment and making a payment, acceptance, the procedure for notifying a payment, acceptance or non-payment (non-acceptance), determine the obligations and responsibilities of the parties, give a uniform interpretation of various terms and resolve other issues.

According to the Uniform Rules, collection is an operation carried out by banks on the basis of instructions received with documents in order to:

receiving acceptance and/or payment;

issuance of commercial documents against acceptance and/or payment;

issuance of documents on other terms.

Depending on the types of documents with which the collection operation is carried out, there are two types of collection:

net collection, i.e. collection of financial documents, which include checks, bills of exchange, payment receipts and other documents used to receive payment in money;

documentary collection, i.e. collection of commercial documents, which may or may not be accompanied by financial documents.

The participants of the collection operation are:

principal - a client who entrusts the collection operation to his bank;

remitting bank - a bank to which the principal entrusts the collection operation;

collecting bank - any bank, which is not a remitting bank, participating in the operation of executing a collection order;

presenting bank - a bank directly receiving payment or acceptance, making the submission of documents to the payer;

payer - a person to whom documents must be submitted in accordance with a collection order.

Settlements in the form of collection are built as follows (Fig. 2): after the conclusion of a contract (1), in which the parties stipulate through which banks, in accordance with the terms of the concluded contract, settlements will be made, the exporter ships the goods (2). Having received transport documents from the transport organization (3), the exporter prepares a set of documents, which includes commercial and, possibly, financial documents, and submits it to his bank (remitting bank) at the collection order (4). Having received the documents from the principal, the remitting bank checks them according to their external features, which are indicated in the collection order, and then acts in accordance with the instructions of the principal contained in this instruction and the Uniform Rules.

Rice. 2. Settlement scheme for collection

The remitting bank presents the documents to the collecting bank (5), which is usually the bank of the importing country (5), which presents them to its client. In case of acceptance (7) the importer's bank transfers the money (8) sends the documents. The remitting bank makes an appropriate statement to its client.

Comparing the provisions of the Uniform Rules with the provisions of Russian regulations, we can conclude that a net collection is represented in our legislation by payment requests and collection orders, and a documentary collection (financial documents accompanied by commercial documents) is carried out on the basis of a payment request-order issued to the payer's account.

Unfortunately, in banking practice, collection orders are often issued instead of payment requests, payment requests instead of payment requests-orders, etc. This confusion could have been avoided if the legislator had established a clear and uniform procedure for collection settlements, which would be carried out by the mandatory submission of a collection order in addition to the rest (in each case, different) documents.

Summing up, it should be noted that when carrying out foreign economic settlements with the help of collection, one should be guided by the provisions of the Rules, and it is also necessary that the party to the transaction, which is aware of the existence of any mandatory norms in its national law, notifies other parties about this. Therefore, when concluding an agreement for the provision of goods, services, etc. the parties must stipulate not only the form of cashless payments, but also the restrictions that exist for this form in the national legislation of the payer's country.

1.4 Bank transfer

A bank transfer is a simple instruction from a bank to its correspondent bank to pay a certain amount of money at the request and at the expense of the transferor to a foreign recipient (beneficiary), indicating the method of reimbursement to the paying bank for the amount paid. A bank transfer is carried out by means of payment orders addressed by one bank to another, and also (if there is a special interbank agreement) through bank checks or other payment documents.

Commercial or shipping documents are sent with this form of payment from the exporter to the importer directly, i.e. bypassing the bank.

The scheme of settlements by bank transfers is shown in Fig.3.

Rice. 3. Scheme of settlements by bank transfers

After the conclusion of the contract (1) between the importer and exporter, the importer sends an application for transfer to the bank (2). The delivery of goods may precede or follow payment, which is determined by the terms of the contract and the currency laws of the countries. The importer's bank, having accepted the payment order from the importer, sends the payment order (3) on its own behalf to the appropriate exporter's bank. Having received a payment order, the bank verifies its authenticity and performs an operation to transfer money (4) to the exporter's account.

The procedure for making settlements by payment orders is regulated by the Civil Code, the Laws on the Central Bank of Russia, on banks and other laws of the Russian Federation, as well as the Regulation on non-cash payments developed in accordance with these laws, which regulates the implementation of non-cash payments between legal entities in the forms provided for by law, determines the formats, procedure filling in and processing the settlement documents used, and also establishes the rules for conducting settlement transactions on correspondent accounts (subaccounts) of credit institutions (branches), including those opened with the CBR, and accounts of interbranch settlements. The regulation on cashless payments does not apply to the procedure for making cashless payments with the participation of individuals.

1.1. Other ways of organizing international payments

Payment for foreign trade transactions can also be carried out using such methods of organizing international settlements as:

Open account payments.

Payments in the form of an advance.

Currency clearing.

Bill form of payment.

Check form of payment.

When making settlements on an open account, the seller ships the goods to the buyer and sends documents of title to him, transferring the amount of debt to the debit of the account opened by him in the name of the buyer, makes periodic payments to the exporter after receiving the goods. The latter repays the debt in parts - at intervals stipulated by the contract or after a certain period after the shipment of individual consignments of goods.

After the settlements are completed, the final reconciliation and repayment of the remaining debt is carried out.

Clearing is a netting of payments, i.e. a situation where monetary claims (accounts receivable) of the participants are repaid by their own monetary obligations (accounts payable) without the use of real money.

Clearing operations are usually classified according to two criteria: the frequency of conducting and the composition of participants. According to the first feature, clearing is divided into one-time, which is carried out episodically as accounts receivable and payable accumulate, or permanent, carried out periodically, regardless of the state of monetary obligations and monetary claims of the clearing participants. Depending on the composition of the participants, clearing can be two- or multilateral.

Currency clearing is an intergovernmental agreement on the mutual (non-cash) offset of international claims and obligations based on an agreement between the government of two or more countries. Currency clearing involves the centralization of settlements between the states - parties to the clearing agreement on special clearing accounts opened by authorized banks. This scheme is mandatory for individuals and legal entities whose transactions are subject to the agreement. Importers and exporters, as well as other creditors and borrowers, are not entitled to make mutual settlements other than through currency clearing. Currency clearing is also based on other mandatory elements:

its volume;

clearing currency;

the size of the technical loan

Clearing volume refers to the extent to which payments are covered. With full currency clearing, the entire foreign trade turnover falls under this scheme. With partial clearing, non-trading operations (tourism, maintenance of embassies and trade missions, business trips abroad, etc.) are carried out in the usual way - through correspondent accounts.

The clearing currency is the agreed unit of account (currency) in which clearing accounts are maintained. It can be expressed in the currency of: one of the partner countries; both states or a third country.

Payments or receipts from clearing accounts are made in each of the countries only in terms of national currency at the appropriate rate. Clearing currencies are used exclusively in non-cash form. The source of clearing currencies is mutual lending for the supply of goods and the provision of services by countries participating in the agreements. Clearing currencies are used on the principle that they must be spent in the country where they are earned.

The volume of technical credit (the maximum allowable balance of debt) is necessary to ensure the continuity of settlements; is determined in accordance with the share of the balance of debt in the volume of deliveries. In practice, various methods of regulating the balance of a clearing account are used.

In international transactions, the bill of exchange form of payment is actively used. In accordance with the bill of exchange law, drawn up by the Geneva Convention on bills of exchange and promissory notes of 1930, a bill is "an unconditional monetary obligation of one party to the other. A bill is a means of processing a loan provided in a commodity form to the buyer in the form of a deferred payment" . From the presented definition it follows that the calculations in this form accompany commercial lending.

From the point of view of the interaction of legal entities and the participation of banks in this form of settlement, it is necessary that the importer's bank be a domicile (i.e. payer), and the exporter's bank should have an instruction from the exporter-bill holder to collect (i.e., an instruction to receive) payment for bill.

In this particular case, the bill of exchange form of payment will look like this (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Bill payment scheme

The importer concludes with its bank an agreement-instruction for the domiciliation of bills (1), i.e. to secure payments for them. After receiving the goods (2), the importer issues a promissory note (3) to the exporter, which indicates the term for payment for the goods. The exporter transfers this bill to his bank for collection (4). The exporter's bank notifies the importer's bank with a summons that it has a bill (5). If there is an amount on the importer's current account, the servicing bank can immediately transfer money to the exporter's current account (6). After that, the exporter's bank notifies its client of crediting the amount of payment on the bill (7) to his account and returns the latter to the importer's bank (8). The importer's bank sends its client a bill of exchange with an extract on the completion of the operation on it (9).

If there is no money on the importer's current account, and the due date for payment of the bill comes, then the importer's bank is not responsible for non-payment if there is no special agreement between it and the client on a loan to pay for the bill.

In case of delay, the exporter's bank presents the unpaid bill to the notary's office (10) for a protest (11). Then the unpaid promissory note is returned to the exporter with a protest to make a decision (12).

In international settlements, a check form is also used. A check is a security containing an unconditional order (order) of the drawer of the check to the paying bank to pay the amount specified in it to the holder of the check (bearer) or, at their order, to other persons (order check) at the expense of the drawer's funds available to the bank.

In practice, the following procedure for paying a check is applied:

the check is paid at the expense of the drawer;

payable subject to presenting it for payment within the period established by law;

the payer is obliged to verify the authenticity of the check, as well as that the bearer of the check is a person authorized by it (when paying an endorsed check, the payer is obliged to check the correctness of the endorsements, but not the signatures of the endorsers);

the person who paid the check has the right to demand that the check be handed over to him with a receipt for payment;

payment on a check can be guaranteed in whole or in part by means of an aval (an avalist is liable in the same way as the one for whom he gave an aval);

presenting a check to a bank for collection in order to receive payment is considered to be presenting a check for payment.

The legislation also stipulates the consequences of non-payment of a check (Article 885 of the Civil Code):

if the payer refuses to pay the check, the holder of the check has the right, at his choice, to bring a claim against one, several or all persons liable for the check (drawer, availers, endorsers), who are jointly and severally liable to him;

the holder of a check has the right to demand from the said persons payment of the amount of the check, their costs of receiving payment, as well as interest;

the claim of the check holder against the said persons may be brought within six months from the date of expiration of the term for presenting the check for payment.

The simplified scheme of payments by checks is presented in fig. 5 .

The importer submits to his servicing bank a payment order for depositing (reserving) a certain amount on a deposit account (1) and at the same time submits an application for issuing a check (2). On the basis of these documents, the buyer's bank opens a deposit (3) for its client. After opening the deposit, the bank issues a check (4).

After the shipment of products or the provision of services by the exporter (5), the importer pays for them by check (6). The exporter, within a certain period of time from the receipt of the check, provides it to his bank (7). That, in turn, forwards the check to the importer's bank (8). The importer's bank transfers the money (9). After that, bank statements are made to their customers (10) and (11).

So, the form of payment is the methods of registration, transfer and payment of shipping and payment documents that have developed in international commercial and banking practice.

The main forms of international payments include:

Bank transfer.

Letter of credit.

Collection.

Open account payments.

Payments in the form of an advance.

Currency clearing.

Bill form of payment.

Check form of payment.

Chapter 2. Comparison of forms of international settlements

In the practice of international trade, the form of payment for the delivered products, work performed or services is of great importance. Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

These forms of international payments are used for payments, both in cash and on credit. At the same time, bank transfers are used in settlements for cash, documentary letters of credit, as well as in settlements using a commercial loan.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors.

Application. A letter of credit is used if the buyer and seller of the goods are far from each other or need a reliable intermediary to complete the transaction, since they have little experience in cooperation. In such a situation, a letter of credit provides counterparties with flexible payment terms; legal reliability; obtaining short-term loans.

For settlements under a letter of credit, it is typical that the withdrawal of money from the payer's account occurs in parallel with the dispatch of goods to his address. This distinguishes the letter of credit form from other forms of payment, in particular from collection payments. Payments are made by the bank of the payer (recipient of the goods) in accordance with his order and at the expense of his funds or the loan received by him against the documents named in the letter of credit order and subject to other conditions of the order, which the bank brings to the attention of the party authorized to receive payment. At the same time, the money on the letter of credit continues to belong to the recipient of the goods and is withdrawn from the letter of credit only after the seller sends the specified goods and submits the relevant documents to the bank.

Collection is rarely used on the territory of the Russian Federation, not to mention the use in settlements with foreign partners. Ignoring the clear advantages of collection settlements occurs mainly due to the intricacies and imperfections of the domestic legislation governing these relations, as well as the low legal culture of Russian entrepreneurs in the field of both international and Russian legislation. Often, problems in choosing the forms of payment between Russian entrepreneurs and their foreign partners arise due to elementary ignorance of the regulatory framework.

Settlements by payment orders (bank transfer) are the most commonly used form of payment in property turnover. In some legal relations, the use of this form of payment is a priority. For example, in relations for the supply of goods, the buyer pays for the supplied goods in compliance with the procedure and form of payment provided for in the supply contract. If the procedure and forms of settlements are not determined by agreement of the parties, then settlements are carried out by payment orders.

In international trade, an open account is used for settlements between regular contractors, with government organizations and for commission sales of goods in the form of consignment or for multiple deliveries of homogeneous goods, especially in small lots.

When comparing international forms of payment, an important role is played by risks for exporters and importers. The interests of exporters and importers of goods and services do not coincide: the exporter seeks to receive payments from the importer as soon as possible, while the latter seeks to defer payment until the final sale of the goods. Therefore, the chosen form of payment is a compromise, which takes into account the economic positions of counterparties, the degree of trust in each other, the economic situation, the political situation, etc.

The use of a letter of credit in settlements is most beneficial for an exporter who receives an unconditional guarantee of payment before the goods are shipped. At the same time, receipt of payment under a letter of credit (provided that the exporter fulfills the conditions of the letter of credit and submits the documents specified in it to the bank) is not associated with the buyer's consent to payment.

However, for exporters, a letter of credit is the most difficult form of payment: receipt of payment from a letter of credit is associated with strict observance of its conditions, correct execution and timely submission to the bank of the documents specified in the letter of credit. By monitoring compliance with the terms of the letter of credit and the submitted documents, banks protect the interests of the buyer, acting on the basis of his instructions.

The use of the letter of credit form is most favorable for the seller of goods (payee). Settlements under a letter of credit are made at its location, which brings the payment closer in time to the time of shipment of goods, helping to accelerate the turnover of the seller's funds. In turn, the untimely opening of a letter of credit by the payer allows him to delay the delivery or even refuse to fulfill the concluded contract, referring to the insolvency of the counterparty. The opening of a letter of credit gives him confidence that the delivered goods will be paid.

Collection settlements carried out in accordance with the Uniform Rules are beneficial for both banks and parties to the transaction. When executing clients' orders, banks do not need to open an additional account or accumulate funds in another way (for example, a letter of credit). The buyer can be sure that after paying the settlement documents he will receive the right to the goods, as well as shipping and title documents. The supplier will be sure that until the moment the money is received, his goods will be at his disposal.

In international banking practice, bank transfers can be used to pay an advance under a contract if its terms contain a provision on the transfer of part of the contract value (15-30%) in advance, i.e. before the goods are shipped. The rest is paid for the actually delivered goods. An advance payment actually means hidden credit for the exporter and is unprofitable for the importer. In addition, the transfer of an advance creates a risk for the importer of losing money if the exporter fails to fulfill the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

In order to protect the importer from the risk of non-return of the advance in case of non-delivery of the goods by the exporter, there are several protection methods in international banking practice:

Obtaining a bank guarantee for the return of the advance - in this case, before the transfer of the advance payment, a guarantee of a first-class bank is issued.

2. Use of a documentary or conditional transfer - in this case, the exporter's bank makes the actual payment of the advance, subject to the exporter providing transport documents within a certain period.

Providing a loan on an open account and making settlements in this form are associated for the seller with the risk of non-payment or late payment for the goods, since the buyer does not issue any debt obligation to the seller upon receipt of the commodity documents. And for the buyer, an open account is a profitable form of settlement and obtaining loans, because. there is no risk of paying for undelivered goods. In addition, interest on the loan is usually not charged. Therefore, firms using an open account often act alternately as sellers and buyers, which is one way to ensure that the parties meet their payment obligations.

Unlike open account settlements, settlements in the form of an advance most often mean that the exporter is credited by the importer. At the same time, on behalf of the exporter for the amount of the advance, the exporter's bank usually issues in favor of the importer a guarantee of the return of the received advance in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the contract and non-delivery of goods.

The check form of payment, like the letter of credit, provides certain guarantees to exporters.

Thus, for the exporter, the most preferable are letters of credit, collection, bank and advance transfers. For the importer, the most acceptable are collections with prior acceptance, subsequent transfer (payment after receiving the goods).

Advantages and disadvantages of forms of international payments. The advantage of the letter of credit form of payment - unlike other forms of non-cash payments, the letter of credit guarantees payment to the supplier either at the expense of the buyer's own funds or at the expense of his bank; as well as the presence of control over the fulfillment of the terms of delivery and the terms of the letter of credit by banks.

The disadvantages of the letter of credit form of payment are - complex document flow and high cost, since the buyer's funds in the amount of the letter of credit are diverted from its economic turnover for the duration of the letter of credit; the turnover slows down, since the supplier, before the notification of the opening of a letter of credit, cannot ship already finished products and incurs additional costs for its storage. In addition, with a letter of credit form of payment, there are delays in the movement of documents associated with the control of documents in banks and their transfer between banks.

The advantage of the collection form of payment is that they are beneficial to the buyer - banks protect his rights to the goods until the payment of documents or acceptance. Documents received by the buyer for verification remain at the disposal of the bank until the moment of their payment (acceptance) and, in case of non-payment, are returned to the bank indicating the reasons for non-payment (non-acceptance).

However, along with the advantages, settlements by collection have a number of disadvantages. In particular:

Between the shipment of goods, the transfer of documents to the bank and the receipt of payment, there is a large gap in time, which slows down the turnover of the exporter's funds.

By the time the documents are received by the importer's bank, he may refuse to pay for them or become insolvent.

Delivery of goods may precede the receipt of documents by the bank and receipt of shipping documents by the importer, which increases the exporter's risk of non-payment for goods by the importer.

Such situations can be avoided by using telegraphic collection when:

or the importer is notified by telegraph notification of the dispatch of documents containing the main details of the collection order;

or the exporter's bank sends documents to a foreign bank only upon receipt of a notice from him about the crediting of funds to ensure payment.

The main advantage of settlements by checks is the guarantee of payment, the main disadvantage is the complexity of the document flow, since funds are credited to the supplier (check holder) not at the time of presentation of checks to your bank, but only after they are debited from the account of the payer (check drawer).

The disadvantage of bill circulation is associated with the inefficiency of the mechanism for collecting funds on bills and unresolved legal issues - the legal and regulatory framework is constantly expanding, there are no methods for banks to provide a loan in the form of a bill.

In addition, the type of product - the object of the transaction, as well as the level of supply and demand for the product - the object of the transaction, is important.

The fundamental differences between the main forms of international payments are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Comparative characteristics of the main forms of international payments

Comparison point	Bank transfer	Letter of credit		Credit (including with the help of a promissory note)	Check form of payment
Importer risk	Maximum, in case of advance payment	Minimum		Significant
Exporter risk	In case of 100% advance - minimum	Minimum		Significant
Bank share	Minimum	Maximum degree of participation (the bank is the guarantor)	Minimal or absent	Minimum (the Bank is not liable to the issuer of the check)
Other characteristics	The simplest form. Easy and often feasible	A very complex form of calculation, but the maximum possible. Implemented within tight deadlines	The most balanced form. For some reason this form is not recognized by the parties	It largely depends on the reliability of the counterparty. Requires certain guarantees.	Limited terms of use

The forms of international payments used differ according to the share of participation of commercial banks in their implementation.

The minimum share of participation of banks is assumed when making a bank transfer. When making bank transfer payments, commercial banks execute payment orders of foreign banks or pay, in accordance with the terms of correspondent agreements, bank checks issued on them for monetary obligations of foreign importers, and also issue payment orders and bank checks to foreign banks for monetary obligations of Russian importers.

When performing a transfer operation, the beneficiary's bank is guided by the specific instructions contained in the payment order. For example, a payment order may contain a condition on the payment to the beneficiary of the appropriate amount against the provision by him of the commercial or financial documents specified in the payment order or against the provision of a receipt.

When performing a transfer operation, banks take part in settlements by transfer only after the payer provides the bank with a payment order to pay for the contract. In this case, banks are not responsible for the payment. Banks do not control the fact of delivery of goods or transfer of documents to the importer, as well as the execution of payment under the contract. With this form of settlement, the bank's obligations include only the transfer of payment from the account of the transferor to the account of the transferee at the time of the submission of the payment order.

The share of participation of banks in carrying out the collection operation is more significant. The use of payment orders (bank transfer) means that the bank undertakes, on behalf of the payer, at the expense of the funds in his account, to transfer a certain amount of money to the account of the person indicated by the payer in this or another specified bank within the period provided for by law or established by in accordance with it, if a shorter period is not provided for by the bank account agreement or is not determined by the customs of business turnover applied in banking practice.

The role of banks in making settlements between counterparties using letters of credit is maximum compared to other forms and consists in mediation, they control only the compliance of the submitted documents with the list of documents specified in the letter of credit. Banks are not responsible for the safety and transportation of goods, for the accuracy of registration, for the legality or reliability of the documents submitted to them. The bank issuing a letter of credit cannot refuse to make a payment if the submitted documents comply with the conditions of the letter of credit. Thus, banks are only responsible for the financial aspect of the transaction, without assuming any obligations regarding the goods listed in the sales contract.

A check is associated with the availability of funds in the drawer's account and is used as a means of disposing of this account, a private obligation as a means of payment. Repayment of the debt of the holder of a check can take place only if the required amount is available on the account of the drawer. The Bank shall not be liable to the drawer of a check for the payment of a check drawn on it. But a bank may have an agreement with its client that allows it to issue checks to its account that exceed in a certain amount the credit balance on the current account - an overdraft.

Since international settlements are closely related to credit relations, the presence or absence of credit agreements (both at the interstate level and at the level of counterparties) also influences the choice of the form of settlements.

Since checks are not a lending tool, but a means of managing a current account, their validity periods are limited. According to the Geneva Convention on Checks of 1931, which regulates check circulation in international settlements, its validity period within one country is 8 days, and for payment in other countries - 20-70 days, including the time for payment and transfer of money to the exporter.

So, the choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

Conclusion

One of the most difficult problems in the commercial practice of companies is the issue of ensuring the break-even of foreign trade activities, since the latter, from a settlement and financial point of view, is accompanied by an increased risk. The fulfillment by foreign counterparties of financial obligations that are part of the terms of a foreign trade transaction is largely determined by the form of selected settlements and the procedure for their execution, which are subject to international practice, and also depend on the nature of monetary and financial restrictions in the domestic market of the country.

The form of payment is the methods of registration, transfer and payment of shipping and payment documents that have developed in international commercial and banking practice.

Taking into account the mutual interests of participants in foreign economic transactions, settlements are carried out in a variety of forms - in the form of advance payments, by way of collection or acceptance of a bill, by checks, using a letter of credit, etc.

The choice of a specific form of settlement in which payments will be made under a foreign trade contract is negotiated in a foreign trade transaction and is determined by a number of factors - the specifics of the application, the degree of risk of exporters and importers, a list of advantages and disadvantages of the form of international settlements, the share of participation of commercial banks in settlements.

The most secure, frequently used, but organizationally complex form of payment between the seller and the buyer is a letter of credit.

The simplest, easiest and most frequently performed form is a bank transfer.

The most balanced form - collection, however, is not popular in Russia.

List of sources used

1. Federal Law of the Russian Federation of 08.12.2003 No. 164-FZ "On the basics of state regulation of foreign trade activities" (as amended on 06.12.2011 No. 409-FZ) // SPS "Consultant" [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: World Wide Web. URL: http://base. consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online. cgi? req=doc; base=law; n=123030

2. Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits

3. (Publication of the International Chamber of Commerce No. 600 dated 1.07.2007) // SPS "Consultant" [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: World Wide Web. URL: http://base. consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online. cgi? req=doc ; base=LAW; n= 132534

4. Uniform rules for collection (Publication of the International Chamber of Commerce No. 522, ed. 1995, entered into force on 01.01.1996) // SPS "Consultant" [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: World Wide Web. URL: http://base. consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online. cgi? req=doc ; base=INT; n=15035