Yes, the examination work. An AI agent can read bills of lading, invoices, insurance certificates and packing lists, compare each with the letter of credit and with each other, and list every discrepancy with its source. Deciding whether a discrepancy matters, waiving, refusing and paying stay with a trade specialist, because payment cannot be recalled.
What does document checking involve?
Under a letter of credit, the bank promises to pay the seller when the seller presents documents that comply with the credit's terms. The bank deals in documents, not goods. Whether it pays depends on whether the documents match the credit and are consistent with each other.
Checking them is exact work. The description of goods on the invoice must correspond with the credit. The shipment date on the bill of lading must fall within the window. The insurance must cover the right value and risks. Names, ports, quantities and dates must agree across every document. A trade specialist may spend a long time on one presentation, and the bank must respond within the time limits its rules set.
That makes it a good fit for an agent: high volume, exact comparison and a need to show every step. Many banks group it with other finance capabilities at defined depths; see the finance agent depth matrix.
What may the agent do, and where must it stop?
| Task | The agent | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Reading the presentation | Extracts data from every document | Nothing routine |
| Checking against the credit | Compares each term and lists every mismatch | Deciding whether a mismatch is a true discrepancy |
| Checking consistency | Compares documents with each other | Interpreting ambiguous wording |
| Screening | Screens parties, vessels and ports against sanctions lists and flags goods that may be controlled | Clearing a possible match |
| Deadlines | Calculates the examination deadline and diaries it | Nothing |
| Drafting the notice | Drafts the refusal notice listing discrepancies | Sending it |
| Waivers | Drafts the request to the applicant | Deciding to seek or accept a waiver |
| Payment | Prepares the payment | Releasing it |
Screening deserves emphasis. Trade finance carries sanctions and money laundering risk through the goods, the routes and the parties. The agent can run the screens and set out the results. A person decides.
A worked example
Take a bank that has issued a letter of credit for an importer buying 2,000 cartons of tinned tomatoes. The seller presents an invoice, a bill of lading, an insurance certificate and a certificate of origin.
The agent extracts every field. The invoice describes the goods as the credit does. The bill of lading shows shipment two days before the latest date allowed, which complies. The insurance certificate covers the right value. But the certificate of origin names a different port of loading from the bill of lading, and the bill of lading shows the consignee as the importer rather than "to order of the issuing bank" as the credit requires.
The agent lists both discrepancies with the clause of the credit and the field on each document. It screens the vessel and finds no match. It drafts a refusal notice and a waiver request to the importer, and holds both for the trade specialist. The specialist agrees that both are discrepancies, contacts the importer, who waives them, and approves payment, which a second person releases.
What controls make it safe?
- Every finding sourced. Each discrepancy cites the clause of the credit and the field on the document.
- No decision capability. The agent cannot refuse, waive or pay. Those are held for named people.
- Deadlines as hard bounds. The examination deadline is calculated on receipt and drives the queue, because a missed deadline can bind the bank to pay.
- Four eyes on payment. The specialist who approves the documents is not the person who releases the money.
- A full record. The extracted data, comparisons, screening results and decisions are filed together.
The same document discipline appears in retail lending; compare gathering documents for mortgage applications with an AI agent. The wider limits are set out in AI agents in banking: what they may and may not do.
Where Pryme fits
In Pryme, document examination is certified by replaying the bank's own past presentations through Attest and scoring each discrepancy the agent found or missed. Refusing, waiving and paying sit outside the agent's bounds and are held for named specialists. Each verdict is filed with the presentation, so the bank can show how every decision was reached.
Questions people ask
Can the agent decide that a minor typing error is not a discrepancy?
It can note that the difference appears to be a typing error and set out why. Whether the bank treats it as a discrepancy is a judgement under the rules the credit is subject to, and that belongs to the specialist.
Can the agent handle documentary collections as well?
Yes, the examination and tracking work is similar, though the bank's obligations differ. Releasing documents to the buyer stays with a person.
Should the agent check the applicant's credit before the bank issues a credit?
It can prepare that assessment. Issuing a letter of credit commits the bank to pay, so it is a credit decision; see whether an AI agent can run a credit check.