The Role of Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) in Reducing Fraud and Errors: With a Particular Reference to Case Law

Abstract

Numerous disputes have arisen from frauds and Errors in the process of documentary credit transactions. This issue has caused an obstacle in financing international trade law and Cash flow in banks. It also imposes a huge cost on the banks. International Chamber of Commerce has created a new payment Method, called Bank Payment Obligation (BPO), in order to address this problem. By introducing an electronic system through Bank Payment Obligation, International Chamber of Commerce has endeavoured to deal with ambiguous and uncovered areas of documentary credit. To assess whether this new method (BPO) would be able to offer a solution to the problem of fraud and Errors in documentary credit transactions, this article examines documentary credit by discussing relevant case law and by identifying the extent to which Bank Payment Obligation would respond to existing problems. It concludes that although Bank Payment Obligation has a number of similarities with Documentary Credit, its structure and nature in optimal conditions would be able, to a large extent to prevent fraud and Errors in international payment and reduce disputes in this field accordingly.

Keywords

• documentary credit
• fraud
• error
• bank payment obligation
• international chamber of commerce