At the present, levels in foreign trade all over the world exceed by 5 billion dollars a day. Centuries ago, trade was done through the following scheme: the merchandise was brought from one country to the other and the cash was sent to the seller by the same route. Obviously, this scheme can not work in a world where globalization rules. There are new ways and Armenia, of course, is not left out.
Banks get mixed up in this too because, after all, they have large financial means and ties around the world through other banks. However, banks do not only serve as money transferring sites; they also propose different ways to import and export. For example, incaso is when the consumer receives the product and then the bank serving the consumer is involved in financing, or in the case of accreditation, we have the opposite chain. This is applicable when both businessmen do not trust each other and have just started collaborating. This way, the importer’s bank accredits and informs the exporter’s bank. The exporter feels sure that he will receive the money that belongs to him and sends the product. These types of transactions are made all over the world-what about Armenia? With this in mind, we interviewed leading professional in Armenian bank development Anna Ananyan. According to Ananyan, Armenian banks have already professionalized in using the international methods of foreign trade services. Almost all Armenian banks today use accreditation, incaso and guarantee. Guarantee works the following way: the importer’s bank guarantees the exporter that it will return the money even if the consumer can not buy the product. Our system has some technical difficulties since all the banks are connected to the international telecommunications SWIFT system, but there are also other problems.
Accreditation is the main method used in Armenia. We can explain this in the following way: Our country continues to be a large importer, however, foreign exporters do not trust Armenian consumers based on the social-economic instability, they are not informed about the activities of Armenian businessmen, etc. So, they ask Armenian importers to use accreditation. However, accreditation is not that cheap (opening accreditation costs a minimum of 100 dollars), but the prices tend to go down.
Generally, throughout the world, it is not obligatory to transfer the money to the bank when opening an accreditation. Since Armenian banks do not trust their consumers, they apply this mechanism. Basically, everything is done against the importer. According to Ananyan, the demand for accreditation continues to rise since there is no alternative: the foreign products demand that. In 2002, the Armenian bank has given out 127 accreditations, whereas in 2003, there have been 216 accreditations and last year there were 258.
Besides that, there are also some technical issues. Since the bank that accredits demands different documents regarding the quality of the product from the exporter, sometimes problems come up in sending the information, there is a need to change the accreditation, and additional expenses are inevitable. A. Ananyan recalls that there have been few cases when everything has gone smoothly.
“Armenian businessmen do not picture the opportunities and advantages of the instruments used for foreign trade services and most of them do not even know that they exist,” says A. Ananyan, who considers that as the main problem facing future development of the foreign trade system.
We must mention the fact that Armenian export is becoming more “civilized”. There have been cases when Armenian big businessmen have demanded the exporter to open an accreditation. After all, they can distrust the creditors, what about them?