NON AUTHENTICATED SWIFT MESSAGE MT999

(Quoted from DCPro Discussion Forum 22 – 26 March, 2016)

QUESTION

We would be curious to know how your bank treats non authenticated swift message MT999 (article 9 f)

1. a) How are they handled? Are they refused and the sender is asked to use a bank with which both sender and receiver have an agreement for transmitting/receiving authenticated message?
2. b) If banks are refusing to handle non authenticated swift messages, what are the reasons?

Thank you for your comments

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ANSWER

Hi,

It depends on the information contained in MT999 that we decide to accept or refuse to handle. We may accept it if it is an acknowledgement of receipt or even an advice of refusal issued in accordance with sub-article 16 (c).

However, we would refuse to handle if a letter of credit or amendment is issued by MT999 notwithstanding that sub-article 9 (f) allows us to advise such letter of credit or amendment without authentication provided that we so inform to the the beneficiary. The reason is that the letter of credit/amendment advised without authentication is not valid for the beneficiary to present the documents to the nominated bank or the issuing bank for negotiation or payment.

It is recognized that most of letter of credit/amendment advices would not state whether the letter of credit/amendment has been authenticated or not. This may make banks forget to include in their advices that the letter of credit/amendment is not authenticated. If this is the case, the advising bank may be liable for its negligence if shipment has been made whereas the letter of credit/amendment is found to be forgery.

Kind regards,

N.H. Duc