Policy News

BAFT Releases Guidance Paper for Auto Extension

BAFT releases much anticipated Guidance Paper for Auto Extension thanks to the effort of the BAFT North America Standby LC Committee – Auto Extension working group.

Convened in November of 2015, by the members of the North America Standby LC Committee who put together a working group to study the use of auto-extension clauses in standby letters of credit and demand guarantees in the United States as applicable. The objective was to produce a white aper to be used as guidance for banks within the United States reflecting Auto Extension Best Practices as it relates to language suggestions, accounting practices and identification of “problem language.” This paper outlines the good, the bad and the ugly as it relates to auto-extension clauses and the challenges faced by banks in managing the associated risks.

BAFT’s Guidance Paper for Auto Extension is available for free to the global transaction banking community and can be found here.