“Trade Finance” means Domestic and International Trade and Transactions. To complete a trade transaction there must be a seller to sell the goods or services and a buyer who will buy the goods or make use of the services offered for sale. Different institutions like banks or different financial institutions usually facilitate trade by providing financing for the trading activities. The usual practice is that the seller of the goods requires the buyer to make advance payment for goods that the seller will ship to the buyer.  On the other hand, the purchases would wish to minimize his business by requiring the seller to provide documents for the goods that have been shipped.

Domestic and International trade

Banks facilitate such transactions by establishing letters of credit to the exporter’s banks which will release the goods upon presentation of the required documents like a bill of lading, inspection reports, and other documents stipulated in the established letter of credit. There are other types of trade finance such as documentary collection, trade credit insurance, and factors for forfeiture.

Some types of trade financing are exclusively tailored to support the conventional provision of money for domestic and international trading. Because the seller needs assurance that his finances are appropriately protected in such transactions, provisions are made for confirmable and protected tracking of material risks and proceedings.

This has introduced innovative organizing systems in the current information systems which have reduced the possibility of risks for both the exporter and importer in the current sophisticated financial versions. International Trade is financed mostly by banks and other financial institutions to protect both the buyer and seller from losing out on international transactions.

International trade involves more complications than just transporting goods from the place of origin to their destination. The most obvious difference in international trade is that the goods must clear customs and fulfill other legal requirements of the country which the goods are shipped to.

For this, the exporter must provide documents specifying the type of merchandise and the value of the goods. International trade has various inherent risk factors that are not found in domestic transactions. Political risks in the buyer’s country such as restricting payments in foreign exchange and the risk of confiscation of goods and factors that destabilize the government of the country. Another potential risk is that the country might not have enough reserves of foreign exchange to finance imports which render the buyer incapable of paying for the goods. The largest risk in all this is whether the buyer has the capability to make payments for the goods purchased or will purchase.