People’s Bank’s denies reports that foreign banks were not accepting their LCs

The People’s Bank, rejecting negative comments being perpetuated in the market that state banks are facing difficulties in conducting their international and trade related banking activities, on Thursday said that not a single Letter of Credit facility issued by the bank has been refused by any international bank to date.

There has been some unconfirmed media reports that some foreign banks had refuse to accept LCs from state banks owing to the downgrading of the country’s rating status.

“People’s Bank being the country’s largest bank in terms of customer base and size of the branch network, plays a pivotal role in facilitating country’s import/export activities via issuing Letters of Credits and Guarantees to a large number of private and state-owned institutions. While certain parties are seeking to undermine the role of state banks by stating that the recent downgrade in the country’s credit rating by three international rating agencies has hampered state bank’s ability to facilitate international trade activities, the factual situation is that not a single Letter of Credit or Guarantee issued by People’s Bank has been rejected by any international party,” the bank said in a statement.

“In light of the above, the bank categorically denies having faced any difficulty in conducting its international trade related banking activities and advises the customers, businesses and all other stakeholders that the bank remains strongly positioned to facilitate any business activity that contributes to the country’s economic development,” it said.