Changes To The SWIFT MT707 (Amendment To Documentary Credit ...

In this document, we look at the MT707.

Scheduled for release on 18 November 2018, the scale of changes to the MT707 represent the largest of any of the MT7 message types.

The removal of the narrative field (Field 79) which to date would contain, among others, all amendments relating to the description of the goods, documents required and additional conditions, has led to the introduction of 17 new fields and all the fields of the MT707 will be fully aligned with those in the new MT700.

There will be 35 fields in total (as opposed to the current 23), of which 8 will be mandatory for completion. Three fields in the current MT707 that are optional, will become mandatory for completion, and one current mandatory field will become optional - see below for details.

This document highlights most of the changes that will occur in November, but you should refer to the content of the SWIFT SR 2018 document for full details. It should be noted that SWIFT have highlighted that for some of these changes the receivers of the message must be able to accept and process them with the new fields - see comments added throughout this document.

There is one other possibility for a mandatory field in the new MT707. New field 58a "Requested Confirmation Party" will become mandatory for completion if field 49 "New Confirmation Instructions" contains the codes "CONFIRM" or "MAY ADD" AND whenfield 57a, now titled "Second Advising Bank" (instead of Advise Through Bank), is completed.

To further align the new MT707 with the new MT700, an MT708 (continuation message) has been developed. Details are given at the end of this document.

SWIFT comment - Senders will be impacted if they wish to amend MT700 fields that are now added to the MT707. The free format field must not be used when a specific field is available for the amendment. Receivers of the MT707 must be able to accept and process messages that contain these changes.

Other highlights:

New Field 27 "Sequence of Total". This has been added due to the ability to create additional MT708 messages

Field 23 "Issuing Bank's Reference" has been re-titled "Documentary Credit Number" reflecting the data that would appear in this field. This field becomes mandatory for completion.

New Field 50B "Non-Bank Issuer" reflecting the field that appears in the MT700.

Field 31C "Date of Issue", as in the case of the MT700, becomes a mandatory field for completion.

Field 26E "Number of Amendment" becomes mandatory for completion.

Field 30 "Date of Amendment" becomes mandatory for completion.

New Field 22R "Purpose of Message". This field is mandatory and must be completed with one of the following codes:

"ACNF" meaning ‘Advice and confirmation of the credit amendment",

"ADVI" meaning ‘Advice of the credit amendment'; or

"ISSU" meaning ‘Issuance of a credit amendment'.

New Field 23S "Cancellation Request". In the event that there is a request to cancel the credit, this field should be used and the code"CANCEL" inserted.

New Field 56a "Advising Bank". Being an optional field, it is presumed that this will be used if the advising bank is to be changed from that which advised the credit.

New Field 57a "Second Advising Bank". Being an optional field, it is presumed that this will be used if the second advising bank is to be changed from that named in the credit or where a second advising bank is introduced into the transaction.

Current Field 59 "Beneficiary (before this amendment)" is retitled "New Beneficiary". As this field will now only be used if the beneficiary name is changed, it becomes optional for completion.

Current optional Fields 34B "New Documentary Credit Amount After Amendment", 39A "Percentage Credit Amount Tolerance" and 39B "Maximum Credit Amount" are removed.

The start of the field names for Fields

39C "Additional Amounts Covered",

44A "Place of Taking in Charge/Dispatch from .../Place of Receipt",

44E "Port of Loading/Airport of Departure",

44F "Port of Discharge/Airport of Destination",

44B "Place of Final Destination/For Transportation to .../Place of Delivery" and

44C "Latest Date of Shipment"

will commence with the word "NEW" reflecting that the details will have changed from that in the MT700 or any previous MT707.

Due to the removal of the current Field 79 "Narrative", the following new fields have been added to further align with similar fields in the MT700:

45B "Description of Goods and/or Services"

46B "Documents Required"

47B "Additional Conditions"

SWIFT comment - This field is optional for senders. Receivers must be able to accept and process messages that contain this new field.

A new field for the MT707, Field 71N "Amendment Charge Payable By", is to be completed by one of three codes:

"APPL" meaning Applicant

"BENE" meaning Beneficiary

"OTHR" meaning Other Party. If this option is chosen narrative text may also be added.

The following new fields have been added to further align with similar fields in the MT700:

48 "New Period for Presentation in Days". The field will only allow up to three digits to be inserted and will represent the number of calendar days after the date of shipment. If another form of period is to be applied, this field should remain blank and the text should be included in Field 47A.

49 "New Confirmation Instructions". Due to the introduction of a new field (Field 58a "Requested Confirmation Party") - see below - the definition of the three codes has been changed.

CONFIRM means ‘The requested confirmation party is requested to confirm the credit',

MAY ADD means ‘The requested confirmation party may add its confirmation to the credit' and

WITHOUT means ‘No confirmation is to be added'.

SWIFT comment - This is a documentation change that does not impact the message structure.

58a "Requested Confirmation Party". This field is to be completed when the code CONFIRM or MAY ADD is inserted in field 49 AND field 57a ‘Second Advising Bank' is completed. If field 57a is not completed, the instruction in field 49 will apply to the receiving bank.

SWIFT comment - This field is optional for senders. Receivers must be able to accept and process messages that contain this new field.

71M "Confirmation Charges Payable by". This field is to be completed by the use of one code:

"APPL" meaning Applicant, or

"BENE" meaning Beneficiary

49G "Special Payment Conditions for Beneficiary". This field is to specify any special payment conditions that are applicable to the beneficiary, such as post-financing requests/conditions.

SWIFT comment - This field is optional for senders. Receivers must be able to accept and process messages that contain either field.

49H "Special Payment Conditions for Receiving Bank". This field is to specify any special payment conditions that are applicable to the receiving bank, without disclosure to the beneficiary, such as post financing requests/conditions.

SWIFT comment - This field is optional for senders. Receivers must be able to accept and process messages that contain either field.

78 "Instructions to the Paying/Accepting/Negotiating Bank". As is the case for the MT700, this field is to contain information that is specific to the nominated bank e.g., disposal of documents, advising the issuing bank of any drawing, etc.

Field 72Z "Sender to Receiver Information" is formerly Field 72.

SWIFT comment - This change is optional for senders. Receivers must be able to accept and process messages that contain the z character set.

One other field of the current MT707 that has been removed is Field 44D "Shipment Period".

Finally, the MT708, the continuation message for the MT707. This is a new message type and will allow for up to 8 additional messages to the MT707 (similar to the MT700).

The MT708 message has four mandatory fields, Field 27 "Sequence of Total", Field 23 "Documentary Credit Number", Field 26E "Number of Amendment" and Field 30 "Date of Amendment". The other five fields, which are all optional, may provide data over and above that shown in the MT707. These are:

Field 45B "Description of Goods and/or Services",

Field 46B "Documents Required",

Field 47B "Additional Conditions",

Field 49G "Special Payment Conditions for Beneficiary" and

Field 49H "Special payment Conditions for Receiving Bank".

In the next paper, we will look at two new messages -

MT744 "Notice of Non-Conforming Reimbursement Claim" and

MT759 "Ancillary Trade Structured Message".

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