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Standby letter of credit (SBLC)
Not a normal means of payment but a safety net: if the buyer fails to pay on open account or deferred terms, the seller draws on the SBLC with a statement of default and simple documents. It is governed by ISP98 or UCP 600 and works much like a bank guarantee. It is used in repeat shipments to avoid opening a separate credit for each lot. Beware: online offers of “leased SBLCs” or “SBLC monetisation” are a well-known fraud.
SWIFT MT103 (payment confirmation)
The standard SWIFT message used between banks for single customer cross-border transfers; it contains the sender, beneficiary, amount, value date and references, and is shared with the seller as proof that payment has been sent. Banks are migrating to the ISO 20022 format (pacs.008) from 2025, and the UETR tracking number shows where the payment is in the chain. Fake MT103 images are common in fraud, so a seller should confirm with its own bank that the funds have actually arrived before releasing goods.