Bank Payment Obligations (BPO) and the URBPO

Do you want to know how access to trade finance can increase your cross-border imports and exports? Explore our Trade Finance hub for practical tools.

Treasury

Are you a treasury or operations manager looking to mitigate the risks and efficiently manage your business’ cash flow? If so, check out our Treasury Management hub.

Payments

Whether you want updates from infrastructure support to cross-border transactions or clearing house operations to processing techniques, you can find all on our Payments hub.

Letters of Credit

Ready to to increase your imports / exports to guarantee the payment and delivery of goods? Find out more about LCs here.

Shipping & Logistics

Whether you’re transporting goods, or learning about supply chains, warehousing, transportation and packaging, we’ve got you covered.

Incoterms

Need to know which International Commerce Term is right for your needs? Explore our curated guides from shipping expert Bob Ronai.

Sustainability

Prioritising sustainable supply chains? Building inclusive trade? Working towards the UN’s 2030 SDGs? Read the latest on global sustainable standards vs green-washing here.

Customs

Heading into international markets? From the correct documentation to standardisation, here’s what you need to know for a streamlined customs clearance process.

TradeTech

TradeTech is rapidly evolving to help reduce some of the biggest challenges when it comes to trade. Keep up with these innovations here.

News

The latest in Trade, Treasury & Payments - stay up to date on all the changes across the globe.

Magazines

The issues feature experts across the industry on the latest developments with specific themed and regional editions.

Articles

Insights by the industry, for the industry. These include thought leadership pieces, interview write ups and Q&As.

Guides

Working closely with industry experts and trade practitioners we provide inclusive educational guides to improve your technical knowledge and expertise in global trade.

Research & Data

We undertake qualitative and quantitative research across various verticals in trade, as well as create reports with industry association partners to provide in-depth analysis.

Trade Finance Talks

Subscribe to our market-leading updates on trade, treasury & payments. Join the TFG community of 160k+ monthly readers for unrivalled access in your inbox.

Podcasts

Welcome to Trade Finance Talks! On our series we hear from global experts in trade, treasury & payments.

Shorts

Enjoy our bite-sized video content for insights on-the-go with our short VoxPop & summary series.

Webinars

Experience the true nature of the TFG community through panel discussions on the latest developments - engage with questions.

Videos

Join us as we interview leaders in international trade, treasury, payments and more! Watch and learn.

Partner Conferences

We partner with industry conferences around the world to ensure that you don’t miss out on any event; in person or online, add to your calendar now.

Women in Trade, Treasury & Payments

Get involved in our most important campaign of the year, celebrating the achievements of women in our industry and promoting gender equity and equality.

Awards

Our excellence awards in trade, treasury, and payments are like no other. You can't sponsor them, and they're independently judged. They are the most sought-after industry accolades.

Online Events

Join our virtual webinars and community events. Catch up on-demand, right here on TFG.

Trade Finance

Trade finance is a tool that can be used to unlock capital from a company’s existing stock, receivables, or purchase orders. Explore our hub for more.

Invoice Finance

A common form of business finance where funds are advanced against unpaid invoices prior to customer payment

Supply Chain Finance

Also known as SCF, this is a cash flow solution which helps businesses free up working capital trapped in global supply chains.

Bills of Lading

BoL, BL or B/L, is a legal document that provides multiple functions to make shipping more secure.

Letters of Credit

A payment instrument where the issuing bank guarantees payment to the seller on behalf of the buyer, provided the seller meets the specified terms and conditions.

Stock Finance

The release of working capital from stock, through lenders purchasing stock from a seller on behalf of the buyer.

Factoring

This allows a business to grow and unlock cash that is tied up in future income

Receivables Finance

A tool that businesses can use to free up working capital which is tied up in unpaid invoices.

Purchase Order Finance

This is commonly used for trading businesses that buy and sell; having suppliers and end buyers

Machinery & Equipment

Technology, construction, telecommunications, PPE, and electronics

Commodities & Materials

Raw materials, agricultural products, minerals, metals, and textiles

Chemical & Energy

Pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and energy products

Autos, Aerospace & Marine

Automotive, aviation, and marine industries

Pharma & Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals, healthcare equipment, and related sectors

Metals & Mining

Ores, minerals, metals, and concentrates

Finished Goods

Retail stock, e-commerce, textiles, clothing, and consumer goods

Construction & Projects

Construction, infrastructure, project finance, and green finance

Tech, Media & Telecom

Construction, infrastructure, project finance, and green finance

Food & Beverages

Food, drink, dairy, confectionery, and alcohol

Professional Services

E-commerce, recruitment, legal services, and hospitality

Informing today's market

Financing tomorrow's trade

Soft Commodities Trader

Due to increased sales, a soft commodity trader required a receivables purchase facility for one of their large customers - purchased from Africa and sold to the US.

Metals Trader

Purchasing commodities from Africa, the US, and Europe and selling to Europe, a metals trader required a receivables finance facility for a book of their receivables/customers.

Energy Trading Group

An energy group, selling mainly into Europe, desired a receivables purchase facility to discount names, where they had increased sales and concentration.

Clothing company

Rather than waiting 90 days until payment was made, the company wanted to pay suppliers on the day that the title to goods transferred to them, meaning it could expand its range of suppliers and receive supplier discounts.

Get Trade Finance
Informing Today’s Market, Financing tomorrow’s Trade.

Get Trade Finance

Informing Today’s Market, Financing tomorrow’s Trade.

Bank Payment Obligations – What are BPOs and the URBPO?

Last updated on 06 Aug 2024 29 Dec 2016 . 2 min read

Trade Finance Global Trade Finance Global (TFG) assists companies with raising debt finance. While we can access many traditional forms of finance, we specialise in alternative finance and complex funding solutions related to international trade. We help companies to raise finance in ways that is sometimes out of reach for mainstream lenders.

Trade Finance without Barriers

Informing Today’s Market, Financing tomorrow’s Trade.

Want to learn more?

Download our free Trade Finance Guides

Content

A bank payment obligation (BPO) is a framework which is endorsed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and SWIFT, which stands as a middle ground between traditional Letters of Credit (LCs) and open account trade.

Global trade is challenged by fraudulent activity, market dynamics, and liquidity within many companies. A Bank Payment Obligation is an e-commerce (paperless) solution which offers a form of risk mitigation between suppliers and buyers via a bank.

Bank Payment Obligation – Definition

Simply put, a BPO is an irrevocable document given from a buyer’s bank to a supplier or seller’s bank, where an agreement is made to pay a specified amount of money on an agreed future date under the condition of electronic matching of data.

As with Letters of Credit which are governed by the UCP600, the Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligations ICC publication No. 750. (URBPO) are the rules adopted by the International Chamber of Commerce for Bank Payment Obligations.

Screen-Shot-2016

CAPTION: Where a BPO fits in the Open Accounts (OA) and Letters of Credit (LC)

Bank Payment Obligation versus Letter of Credit?

The BPO and Letter of Credit (LC) are quite similar for the following reasons:

Example of how a BPO transaction could work

  1. A buyer and a seller would agree the BPO as the payment term upon agreeing a contract. The buyer would send a Purchase Order (PO) to the seller.
  2. The buyer would provide data (see below) from the purchase order and payment conditions to their bank (buyers bank).
  3. The seller would confirm that the data from the PO is correct and send these on to their recipient bank (sellers bank). In this case, if the documents match (and the banks agree this), then the seller can ship the goods or services as agreed on the initial sales contract.
  4. Seller presents the data to its bank, which is then cross-checked by the buyer. Any data mismatches are resolved where possible.
  5. If matched by both parties, the sellers bank is informed and the seller sends the trade documents directly to the buyer. Buyer will clear goods from the customs with these documents.
  6. On the due date agreed in the contract, the buyers bank debits the proceeds from buyer’s account.

Data Fields, BPO and URBPO

Banks will often expect the following when verifying data points: