The L/C has been issued in favor of the beneficiary. This is the exporter of the goods who creates (if not specified otherwise in the L/C) and presents the documents required under the L/C.

The applicant requests the issuing bank to advise an L/C. Normally, the applicant is not a customer of the bank using the application and can be entered manually.

The issuing bank is the bank that has been instructed by the applicant to advise the L/C. In advising the L/C, the issuing bank makes an abstract and irrevocable promise to pay when L/C-compliant documents have been presented.

The reimbursing bank is one of the correspondence banks of the issuing bank Normally, the issuing bank keeps accounts with the reimbursing bank in foreign currencies. The reimbursing bank can be specified, if the L/C has been advised in a foreign currency (for the the issuing bank). At maturity, the bank using the application can reimburse the reimbursing bank for liabilities.

The presenting party presents the documents to the bank using the application. The presenting bank can be one of the L/C parties (beneficiary, 2nd advising bank) or it can be entered freely.

The 'Account with' bank is the correspondence bank of one of the parties. It is specified here if the bank using the application does not have a direct account relationship with the party.

This specifies the beneficiary's bank.

This party is not a party of the underlying foreign trade transaction.

It is required for internal operations of the application in order to secure the correct booking of the liabilities, should the liability party be changed.

The payer specifies the debit party who is paying the document set. The payer can be one of the L/C parties (issuing bank) or it can be entered freely.

If, in its application to open an L/C, the applicant names the beneficiary's bank, but the issuing bank generally works with another advising bank in the beneficiary's country, the beneficiary's bank can be captured as the 2nd advising bank. In this case, the issuing bank will send the L/C to its corresponding bank (1st advising bank) and instructs this bank to send the L/C to the beneficiary via the 2nd advising bank.

If the export L/C is not presented directly at the bank using the application, but via an intermediary correspondence bank of the issuing bank, we have a 1st advising bank. The 1st advising bank can be used, if, for example, the issuing bank has an agreement with the 1st advising bank to advise all L/Cs for a specific country via the 1st advising bank.

L/Cs can contain instructions governing which bank the L/C is available with. This can be the issuing bank, the advising bank or any other bank where documents are to be presented for payment, for acceptance or for usance payment.

In addition to the issuing bank's irrevocable obligation to pay, there can be another way to secure the L/C by using a confirming bank. This second obligation to pay is used to secure risks that can be at hand in the issuing bank (country risks and/or bank risks) and in the country of the importer (e.g. the risk of a moratorium due to a critical shortage of foreign exchange). An L/C confirmation implies, that the issuing bank explicitly requests a confirmation in the L/C. The confirming bank is liable towards the beneficiary for the breach of the L/C conditions by the issuing bank.

The confirming bank can be the bank using the application or another bank.