Bonds & Guarantees, and Standby Letters of Credit

Bonds & guarantees, and standby letters of credit, provide companies with additional protection in respect of their business or customers, performance or financial obligations. We can issue guarantees on your behalf or receive and validate guarantees issued by other banks in your favour.

The terms of your contract will determine whether you need a guarantee or a standby letter of credit. Read the below to ensure you know which product is best for your business

Bonds & Guarantees

• Provides a purchaser the security of a guarantee if there is a failure by the seller to meet its contractual obligation.

Standby Letters of Credit

• To pay a beneficiary based either on their written demand certifying non-fulfilment of contracted terms or against stipulated documents.
• Operates similar to a Bank financial guarantee, with the main difference being that it is governed by the current version of UCP or ISP98

There are a wide range of different Bonds and Guarantees that can be issued depending on a customer’s specific requirements. They can be either performance related, to cover failure to perform under a contractual obligation, or they can support a financial obligation.

If you’re a new customer with an annual turnover of less than £2 million, you can give us a call on 0345 050 1425. If it’s over £2 million, call us on 0345 050 1426. 

Customers with hearing and speech impairments can contact us by using our Relay Service: 18001 0345 050 1425 if your turnover is less than £2 million and 18001 0345 050 1426 if it's over £2 million.

For more information on accessibility visit: https://www.business.shostra.com/business/accessibility.html

Calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

To see how much your call might cost, visit the call charge information page.

To compare all of our Trade Finance products, see our Trade Finance Homepage