UPAS letters of credit in Bangladesh
Two clocks
UPAS means usance payable at sight. The shape of the instrument is the split in timing. The exporter, or other beneficiary, is paid at sight when a complying presentation is made. The importer repays on an agreed later maturity. The financing party, often the issuing or nominated bank or a funding bank, stands in the gap. That is the whole idea. It is not a promise that every goods description, every tenor, or every importer is eligible in Bangladesh.
What the product note actually says
A Trust Bank PLC product page describes a UPAS L/C as a usance L/C under which the beneficiary receives payment at sight on presentation of complying documents. That sentence is a bank’s description of its product. It is useful because it states the sight payment to the beneficiary in plain words. It is not a circular, and it does not bind another bank’s sanctioning authority. If your bank’s product approval uses different conditions, the approval controls your desk.
What you still have to read
Bangladesh Bank’s import instructions, currently consolidated in FEPD-1 Circular No. 30 of 13 August 2026, govern how authorised dealers handle import letters of credit, usance, and reporting. This guide does not extract a UPAS tenor from that circular and it does not invent one. Usance for industrial inputs, including some back-to-back credits, is dealt with in Part D and Part G of that circular. A UPAS structure has to fit those paragraphs and the bank’s own credit decision. Interest, all-in cost, and whether the goods are permitted are outside this page.
Documents do not change
Paying the beneficiary at sight does not relax UCP 600, if the credit incorporates UCP 600. The presentation is still examined under Article 14. A refusal is still Article 16. The UPAS feature is a payment and funding arrangement around a complying presentation. A discrepant presentation is not funded “because it is UPAS”.
Questions this page will not answer
It will not say whether rice, or any other named goods, may be imported under UPAS. It will not quote an interest rate. It will not compare UPAS with UPAU. Those are sanction and circular questions. Use the research box on the home page with the goods, the tenor, and the circular you are actually holding.
Source
Trust Bank PLC product description of a UPAS L/C: the beneficiary receives payment at sight on a complying presentation. It is a bank product note, not a Bangladesh Bank permission. Tenor and eligibility stay with the current Bangladesh Bank instructions and the bank’s sanction. Open the cited source.
Frequently asked questions
Who is paid at sight?
The beneficiary, against a complying presentation. The importer’s obligation is the later settlement, on the agreed maturity.
Does this page fix the maximum tenor?
No. A description of the instrument is not a permission and not a tenor cap. Read the current Bangladesh Bank instruction and the sanction.
Is UPAS the same as a sight LC?
No. A sight LC pays the beneficiary at sight and the applicant funds that payment at sight. UPAS splits those two moments.