In Brief: BankBoston to Back Home Depot's Imports

BankBoston said Thursday that it was selected by Home Depot Inc., the home improvement retailer, as the company's primary provider of import letters of credit.

BankBoston will provide the services to Home Depot through its global network of trade operation centers, and will provide import letter of credit services through TradeKey 2.0, the latest generation of its proprietary, on-line trade transaction initiation and information reporting system.

In letter of credit transactions a bank assumes the credit risk of importers and guarantees payment to exporters if the terms and conditions of the letter of credit are met. Letters of credit allow importers like Home Depot to set terms and conditions of shipments of merchandise while also assuring exporters that payment will be made.

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