US UCC Article 5’s Non-Variable Provisions
How UCC Article 5 governs letters of credit in the US, its non-variable provisions, and the legal nuances that affect issuers and beneficiaries.
The two financial institutions which purchased from the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) the bridge banks of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) that failed in March 2023 experienced significant increases in their letter of credit values for the latest quarterly reporting period.
At the close of first quarter 2023, First Citizens more than doubled the value of its outstanding LCs from USD 2.5 billion at year-end 2022 to USD 5.7 billion after its acquisition of SVB on 27 March, propelling First Citizens into the Top 10 (9th) for this quarter from its prior quarterly ranking of 16th.
By the end of first quarter 2023, Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp, which acquired the former Signature Bank on 20 March saw its LC portfolio and ranking jump from USD 540 million (41st among US banks) for 4Q22 to USD 1 billion (26th) for 1Q23.
The latest installment of DCW’s reporting of quarterly LC statistics and analysis for US banks appears at page 32.
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