Abstract

 L/C has been the most widely used and the most important way in international settlement. Under the L/C payment, the bank acts as the intermediary and guarantor between the exporter and importer, which helps bank credits step in commercial credit. To a great extant, L/C alleviates the contradiction of distrust between the seller and buyer and meets the need of sellers and buyers’ rapid capital turnover. However, because of the complexity of L/C business, all parties involved inevitably face some certain risks and potential losses. This thesis, with the aim of improving L/C employment in international business, firstly introduces the reality of L/C utilization. It next illustrates the risks of employing L/C in international payment from three aspects of exporters, importers, and the banks, especially, the issuing bank. Thirdly, it analyzes the causes for those risks of L/C employment on the basis of risk analysis. Then to make L/C payment more reliable and safer, the thesis also proposes some feasible countermeasures against the three types of risks respectively.

Key Words: L/C employment  risks  countermeasures 

摘 要

    在国际贸易结算中，信用证是使用最为广泛和最为重要的一种结算方式。在信用证支付方式下，银行充当了进口方和出口方之间的支付中介和保证人，它使银行信用介入商业信用，在很大程度上缓解了买卖双方互不信任的矛盾。然而，由于信用证业务的复杂性，交易中的各个当事人都要面对一定的风险。为改善信用证在国际商务中的应用，本论文首先介绍信用证的使用现状，然后从出口商、进口商及开证行三个角度，阐明国际结算中信用证使用带来的风险。还分析引起信用证风险的原因。最后，为使信用证支付更可靠安全，本文根据三种不同的风险，分别提出可行的对策。希望能够提高信用证在国际结算中的有效运用。

关键词：信用证 风险 对策

1 Introduction
With the development of globalization, foreign trade becomes increasingly important to a country’s economy. Whether in developed countries or in less developed countries, L/C is always one of important payment tools in international trade.
But because of the extensive utilization of L/C, many problems occur: L/C fraud, soft clause of L/C as well as other causes, which lead to great risks to exporters, importers and even banks. All these risks can with no doubt cause great losses to all parties involved, and then influence the smooth development of international settlement. In this regard, how to control these risks is of great significance to all parties and the countermeasures against risks of L/C employment in international settlement have aroused a high degree of attention in the whole business world.