As we all know, the charging standards of foreign banks are generally higher than those of Chinese banks for the same service variety. For example, the telegram fee of Chinese banks is generally 120 RMB, and most foreign banks exceed 200 yuan RMB. However, foreign banks also have their comparative advantages, such as better soft service environment, intensive global settlement network and numerous foreign branches and agencies. However, the international settlement business of some Chinese banks in the Mainland started in the late 1990s and early 2000, and there was a shortage of talents. The system of foreign branches and correspondent banks was still in preparation. Therefore, there is a gap in the quality, speed and information of foreign exchange collection.
Take SWIFT as an example. If there is a reimbursing bank, the export settlement of the negotiating bank can generally receive foreign exchange on the same day, which means that the payment on the day of negotiation can enter the seller's account. However, if the route of foreign exchange collection is tortuous, it will not only take a long time to collect foreign exchange, but also go through a number of agent banks, and each agent bank will go through the process of plucking, which will inevitably raise the cost. It does not include the interest loss caused by the long time of foreign exchange collection. When the customer came to settle the foreign exchange, he found: "Why is the cost so high?" ? The answer is that the other bank deducted the handling fee, and our bank only charged a little handling fee and postage. Most newcomers don't understand the charging relationship.
In the past, the settlement of foreign exchange of large foreign trade companies at provincial and municipal levels was mostly operated by documentary financial personnel who were familiar with the business. They are familiar with the remittance route under the letter of credit and remittance, and generally there is no problem. Most private enterprises are unfamiliar with the field of foreign trade settlement, so they turn a blind eye to the high fees of some banks, thinking that foreign trade settlement fees should be so high.
In addition to choosing a suitable bank, the choice of settlement methods and varieties is also a key step. Although the varieties of international settlement are constantly innovating, the main types are remittance, letter of credit, collection, bank guarantee and so on.
Among them, the settlement cost of letter of credit is the highest, so the bank bears the greatest risk and the exporter has the most foreign exchange collection guarantee; The bank handling fee of collection settlement method is cheaper, which means that compared with the letter of credit settlement method; Of course, remittance is the simplest way to settle foreign exchange, and banks bear the least risk and the lowest natural cost. Therefore, both buyers and sellers have to bear more foreign exchange settlement risks in the latter two ways.
However, we can also adopt some flexible methods to deal with the above-mentioned various international settlement methods, and make use of some basic characteristics of international practices to make up for the shortcomings of the above-mentioned settlement methods, so as to obtain the same security of foreign exchange receipts and payments with less payment.
For example, a transaction uses two different settlement methods at the same time, that is, part of the amount is settled by letter of credit; The other part of the amount is settled by collection. For example, for imported goods worth $654.38 million, the importer opens a letter of credit for part of the payment (such as 60%), and the exporter entrusts the shipping documents under the letter of credit to the negotiating bank after the goods are loaded, and collects the remaining payment from the importer through the issuing bank.
The practice is to draw two bills of exchange for payment under the letter of credit and payment under the collection. The bill of exchange under the letter of credit is accompanied by a full set of documents, and the payment under the collection is a clean bill. In order to receive foreign exchange safely, the exporter may require the importer to stipulate in the terms of the letter of credit that the issuing bank can only deliver documents after receiving clean collection. Using this method of foreign exchange settlement, whether the importer pays the clean ticket becomes a prerequisite for the presentation of documents. This is beneficial to both buyers and sellers, the exporter's foreign exchange receipts are guaranteed, and the expenses of both parties can be saved.
There is also a safe and economical way to collect foreign exchange, which is foreign exchange collection. For example, if there are goods worth $654.38 million to be exported, the seller can first collect a part of the deposit from the buyer and remit it by telegraphic transfer (such as 30% of the payment). After the goods are shipped, the full set of documents (including the bill of lading) will be taken to the bank for collection, and the importer needs to pay the remaining 70% of the payment before obtaining the full set of documents representing the goods. If the importer fails to honor the bill by then, the exporter will have 40% advance payment, and the goods can be resold to others or shipped back, with relatively little risk, which improves the disadvantage of the collection and settlement method to the exporter.