Ready Willing And Able Letter

A Ready Willing and Able Letter (RWA) is a document issued by a bank or financial institution for its clients. It demonstrates the intent and capability of the clients to enter a financial business transaction both legally and financially. After being issued, the Ready Willing and Able Letter (RWA) is sent to the beneficiary via MT799 SWIFT message.​

A “Ready, Willing And Able Letter” (RWA Letter) verifies that a bank or financial institution is prepared to proceed on behalf of a client for a specified financial transaction. The transaction is usually a capital guarantee brought forward by the project developer or a sponsor for one or more identified projects to be financed through our partners.

A Ready, Willing, And Able letter will state our recommended templates or as mutually agreed by both parties that the sending bank will follow through according to establish banking rules, such as the Uniform Rules of Demand Guarantees (URDG ICC Pub. 758) and send the instrument when the time comes. When is that time? The guarantee itself, USD, or Euros, would be sent bank-to-bank after completion of our due diligence, once all contracts have been negotiated, agreed, signed, and countersigned. This constitutes the last step before financial closing. Prior to that, it is important that bankers understand that we are not asking for their commitment to do anything. Sending the instrument is the last step to secure funding, but we use the RWA letter to show the intent, ability, and willingness (readiness comes later) to proceed with the undertaking.

Without RWA Letter, we would need to otherwise determine that the involved bank will reliably send the instrument when the time comes. This is the precise purpose of the RWA Letter. The funding bank responds in kind, via SWIFT MT-799 or SWIFT MT-199 that they are similarly ready with adequate capacity to fund the projects.

Thus, RWA Letter will disclose the bank’s intention to send the referenced guaranteed instrument, either a Bank Guarantee or Standby Letter of Credit only when asked to do so. Sending the guarantee instrument is contingent upon the parties to first agree that the funding has been arranged per mutually acceptable terms and conditions. There is nothing directly binding, irrevocable, or “material” at the time of the RWA Letter issuance. No money should change hands at that point.