Letters of credit

A letter of credit (LC) is a bank's promise to pay a seller once the seller presents the documents the LC asks for. On Multigate you handle both sides:

• Export LCs: LCs issued in your favour (you're the seller). Your bank's SWIFT message arrives on Multigate; you check it, complete it and advise it.
• Import LCs: LCs you apply for (you're the buyer). You draft the application, an approver signs it off, and Multigate sends it to your bank.

Read Trade finance first: it explains the permissions, the maker-checker workflow and the conventions these endpoints share (string IDs, DD/MM/YYYY dates, no webhooks).

Before you start

• The Trade Finance module for your business, and an API user with the trade finance permissions (see Who can do what).
• MG_BASE_URL and MG_API_KEY, as in the Quickstart.
• For import LCs: the seller saved as a beneficiary (you send its beneficiaryId), and your business's clientId from Get the current user.

Find your letters of credit

• List letters of credit returns import and export LCs together, newest first.
• List export letters of credit and List import letters of credit filter one type, by status, approvalStatus and creation date.

Trade finance sends no webhooks. To pick up new export LCs and changes, poll the lists (for example every few minutes) and read the details of records that are new or changed. Your users also get an email for each step.

Export letters of credit

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant Bank as Advising bank
    participant MG as Multigate
    participant Maker
    participant Checker as Approver
    Bank-)MG: SWIFT MT700
    MG-)Maker: Email "Export LC Created", status pending
    Maker->>MG: POST /letter-of-credits/export/{lcId}/create-instrument
    MG-)Checker: Email "Advice Request", approvalStatus pending
    Checker->>MG: POST /letter-of-credits/export/{lcId}/approve
    MG-->>Checker: status advised
    MG-)Maker: Email "Export LC Approved"

curl -s "$MG_BASE_URL/trade-finance-service/api/v1/letter-of-credits/export?status=pending" \
  -H "mp-api-key: $MG_API_KEY"

curl -s -X POST "$MG_BASE_URL/trade-finance-service/api/v1/letter-of-credits/export/$LC_ID/create-instrument" \
  -H "mp-api-key: $MG_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "internalInstrumentReference": "EXP-2026-0141",
    "invoiceNumber": "INV-88412",
    "instrumentValue": 250000,
    "instrumentExpiryDate": "31/01/2027"
  }'

When the bank sends a newer version

If the bank sends the LC again (an updated MT700 for an LC you've already advised), it arrives as a new pending record. Instead of completing it as a second LC, merge it into the existing instrument by sending the existing instrument's internalInstrumentReference. With manage only, the merge waits for an approver.

Change your own fields

To change the fields your team owns on an advised export LC (for example amounts received or payment dates), a maker requests an update and an approver approves or declines it. The change only affects Multigate's record.

Amendments

When the issuing bank amends the LC (SWIFT MT707), the LC moves to lcStatus: amended with hasPendingAmendment: true, and amendment in its details shows the proposed changes.

As the beneficiary, you decide whether the new terms apply to you: under the usual LC rules (ICC UCP 600), an amendment binds the beneficiary only once accepted, and until then the original terms stand. Your answer goes back to the bank over SWIFT, so it is reviewed by two people first.

1. A maker responds: accept the amendment (choose to update this record, or to create a new record for the amended LC with its own internal reference) or refuse it with a reason.
2. An approver approves the response, which sends your acceptance or refusal to the bank over SWIFT, or rejects it so the maker can respond again.

After approval the LC is accepted_amendment or refused_amendment. If you chose to create a new record, the new record is accepted_amendment with the amended details and the original stays amended. If the approver rejects the response, nothing is sent to the bank and the LC stays amended, with hasPendingAmendment still true, until a maker responds again.

While an amendment is open, the LC is locked: creating or updating its instrument, and raising or approving an update request, fail with "Export Letter of Credit has an active amendment request and cannot be modified". Finish the amendment first. amendment in the LC's details always shows the latest amendment, also after it was answered.

Import letters of credit

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant Maker
    participant MG as Multigate
    participant Checker as Approver
    participant Bank as Issuing bank
    Maker->>MG: POST /letter-of-credits/import/save (draft)
    Maker->>MG: POST /letter-of-credits/import/submit
    MG-)Checker: Email "Import LC Approval Request"
    Checker->>MG: POST /letter-of-credits/import/{id}/approve
    MG->>Bank: Application over SWIFT
    MG-->>Checker: status applied
    Bank-)MG: Issued
    MG-)Maker: Email "Import LC Issued", status issued

Amendments

To change the terms of an issued LC (for example increase the amount or extend the shipment date), a maker submits an amendment with only the fields that change and the amendment date. An approver reviews it: approving sends it to the bank over SWIFT (status pending_amendment), declining discards it.

The bank's and the seller's answers arrive later: amended when the bank accepts it, then accepted_amendment or refused_amendment when the seller (beneficiary) responds. The same retry rule applies as for approval: read the LC before reviewing again.

Instrument updates

To change Multigate's record of an issued LC without telling the bank (for example an internal reference, payment dates or notes):

1. Check the LC can be updated: Check instrument update eligibility.
2. A maker saves and submits the update, either to change this record or to create a new record from it.
3. An approver finds it with Get the pending instrument update and decides with Approve an instrument update request or Decline an instrument update request.

Manual records

Use manual uploads to record LCs handled outside Multigate's SWIFT connection, so all your instruments are in one place:

• Export: save and submit an uploaded export LC.
• Import: save and submit an uploaded import LC.

You choose the status the record should have (for example issued or settled). An approver approves it like any other record; nothing is sent to a bank. Approvers get a "Trade Finance Record Upload - Approval Required" email.

Documents

Attach invoices, bills of lading, certificates and other files (PDF, PNG or JPEG, up to 50 MB each) to an export LC. Import LCs have no document endpoints.

• Upload a document or several at once.
• List an LC's documents, download one or get a temporary link to share it (anyone with the link can open it for an hour).
• Delete a document. Deleting is permanent.

Send document IDs in supportingDocumentIds when you create or update the instrument to list them on the LC.

Statuses

Other values (processing, documents_discrepant, documents_rejected, documents_accepted, partially_settled, settled, closed) are only set on manual records. approvalStatus (pending, approved, rejected) shows whether something is waiting for an approver. The full lifecycle is in Status lifecycles.

Errors and recovery

Next steps

• Guarantees.
• Dashboard, alerts and reports: reminders before LC expiry and instalment due dates.
• Email notifications.