Impact Of New BIS/OFAC Regulations- Payment Terms (Leverage For Cuba) & Credit Cards (Pressure From Airlines)
/Payment Terms
Now that United States-based exporters and their respective financial institutions are authorized to provide payment terms (cash, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc. and obtain financing from those institutions) for authorized exports, a likely result will be Republic of Cuba government-operated entities respond that the length of the payment terms will not be comparable to the 100 days to 1 year to 2 years that they receive from existing providers (and those providers generally have a government agency export guarantee).
There will be, however, a few (perhaps large multinationals and family-owned companies) that will provide extended payment terms for the value of publicity that will result from having their product/service in the Republic of Cuba..... But, extended duration payment terms are not, nor should be, a desired and sustainable commercial model.
United States companies will continue to be successfully used as leverage to extract more beneficial payment terms from companies (especially government-controlled and those with export guarantees) in other countries.
The most immediate beneficiaries will be the 200+ categories of licensed businesses who will qualify for personally-guaranteed (by family members residing in the United States) micro-finance loans and product payment terms- again, primarily by family members.
The government of the Republic of Cuba continues to have laws and regulations that prohibit and/or restrict the direct importation of products outside of the Republic of Cuba government-operated distribution channels.
Credit Card Usage....
There will be an accelerated effort by United States-based air carriers to have credit card usage in place prior to the commencement of regularly-scheduled passenger services because the airlines need to have an ability for passengers (especially their high-revenue frequent flyers) to make credit card payments at their respective ticket counters to purchase tickets, make flight changes, obtain upgrades, etc. The airlines have influence due to many financial institutions branding Visa and MasterCard with airlines (JP Morgan Chase with United; Citibank with American, etc.)