Trade Services
Get paid, and pay, across a border you don't have to trust
Letters of credit, guarantees, documentary collections and supply chain finance, issued by a trade operations team that still reads the documents by hand.
- LC issuance
- 3 working days
- Guarantee formats
- URDG 758 compliant
- Markets covered
- 146
- Supply chain finance, min facility
- £500,000
Instruments
Four ways to de-risk a cross-border deal
Used individually or combined across a single transaction, depending on the counterparties and the goods.
Letters of credit
Issued under UCP 600, guaranteeing payment to your supplier on presentation of compliant shipping documents.
Bank guarantees
Performance, bid and advance payment guarantees issued under URDG 758, accepted by counterparties in 146 markets.
Documentary collections
Lower-cost than a letter of credit, routing shipping documents through banks on a documents-against-payment or acceptance basis.
Supply chain finance
Approved supplier invoices are paid early at a discount, funded against your credit standing rather than theirs.
Letters of credit
Three working days from application to issuance
Our trade operations desk examines documents in-house, so discrepancies are caught and resolved before they become a payment dispute.
Import & export LCs
Issue an LC in favour of your supplier, or have an export LC advised and confirmed to your business by our correspondent network.
Document examination
Presented documents are checked against LC terms within two working days of receipt, with discrepancy notices issued the same day they're found.
Confirmed LCs
Add our confirmation to an LC issued by an overseas bank, so your payment is guaranteed by Nordhaven regardless of the issuing bank's standing.
Standby LCs
Used as a payment backstop rather than the primary settlement method, drawn only if the underlying commercial payment fails.
LC file — Import, machine parts, Vietnam
- LC value
- USD 840,000
- Type
- Irrevocable, sight
- Issued
- 3 working days from application
- Document check turnaround
- 1.5 working days
- Confirming bank
- Correspondent, Ho Chi Minh City
- Status
- Documents compliant, funds released
A dedicated trade operations contact is named on every file above USD 100,000.
Supply chain finance
Pay suppliers on your terms, without stretching their cash flow
We pay your approved suppliers early, at a small discount, and collect the full invoice value from you on the original due date.
Buyer-led programme
Your suppliers are invited to the programme once your facility is agreed, with no cost to them beyond the early-payment discount they choose to take.
Extend your own terms
Move standard payment terms out to 90 or 120 days without damaging supplier relationships, since they can still be paid early.
Off-balance-sheet treatment
Structured to qualify as trade payables rather than debt under most accounting frameworks — confirm treatment with your auditor.
Onboarding in weeks, not months
A programme for your top 20 suppliers is typically live within four to six weeks of facility agreement.
Supply chain finance — Programme summary
- Facility size
- £12,000,000
- Suppliers onboarded
- 34
- Average early-payment discount
- 1.8% p.a.
- Buyer payment terms
- 90 days
- Programme currency
- GBP, EUR, USD
- Time to go live
- 5 weeks
Minimum facility size is £500,000; larger programmes are priced individually.
FAQs
Questions, answered plainly
Next step
Structure the deal before you ship the goods
Letters of credit, guarantees and supply chain finance from a trade desk that examines the paperwork itself.