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Trade finance operations

ID MOD-067
System SD04
Repo bank-payments
Build status Not started
Deployed No

Trade finance operations provides the operational layer for conditional payment instruments — letters of credit, bank guarantees, and standby LCs. These instruments underpin cross-border trade by providing payment assurance to beneficiaries while protecting buyers from paying before goods or services are delivered. The module manages the instrument lifecycle from issuance to final settlement or expiry.

The core workflow is document-driven: applicants submit trade documents (invoices, bills of lading, certificates of origin) through the app; ops staff review each document against the instrument's stated conditions using a structured checklist. Compliant presentations trigger the payment obligation via MOD-020 (pre-payment validation) and MOD-022 (payment audit trail). Discrepancies are flagged as exceptions for client resolution.

Required to support PRD-015 (Bank Guarantee / Letter of Credit). Designed to comply with ICC UCP 600 and ISP98 rules governing documentary credit operations, with all document presentations and compliance determinations retained in the immutable audit trail.


Module dependencies

Depends on

Module Title Required? Contract Reason
MOD-020 Pre-payment validation suite Required LC and guarantee payment execution passes through pre-payment validation before settlement.
MOD-013 Real-time sanctions screener Required Counterparty sanctions screening is required before any trade finance transaction is processed.
MOD-001 Double-entry posting engine Required Trade finance settlement entries are posted through the posting engine when conditions are met.
MOD-104 AWS shared infrastructure bootstrap Required AWS shared infrastructure provisioned by MOD-104 (EventBridge buses, S3, KMS, Kinesis, Cognito) is required before this module can be deployed.
MOD-103 Neon database platform bootstrap Required Neon database and schema provisioned by MOD-103 must exist before this module can read or write Postgres.

Required by

(No modules in this wiki currently declare a dependency on this module.)


Policies satisfied

Policy Title Mode How
PAY-002 Settlement Risk Policy GATE Validates all conditions before executing the payment obligation on an LC or guarantee — settlement is blocked until conditions are confirmed.
AML-008 Cross-Border Transfer Reporting Policy LOG Logs all cross-border trade finance transactions and counterparty details for AML screening and reporting.

Capabilities satisfied

Capability Title Mode How
CAP-086 Trade document validation GATE Drives the document review workflow — collecting, validating, and approving trade documents before authorising payment.
CAP-106 Trade lifecycle management AUTO Manages the full lifecycle of letters of credit and guarantees from issuance through to expiry or payment.
CAP-107 Document processing workflow AUTO Routes trade documents through the review and approval workflow, tracking status and escalating exceptions.

Part of SD04 — Payments Processing Platform Compiled 2026-05-22 from source/entities/modules/MOD-067.yaml