Fast and Efficient Bank Guarantees with Assuro and Cirrus8

A bank guarantee is an unconditional and irrevocable undertaking issued by a bank to a beneficiary to pay an amount of money if requested to do so by the beneficiary. A bank guarantee is provided by the bank on behalf of the issuing party who has generally deposited an amount of money equivalent to the bank guarantee with the bank.

Bank guarantees are used in a wide range of different circumstances but are commonly used to secure:
• commercial leases;
• commercial property transactions;
• contractual performance in the construction industry including defect or maintenance periods; and
• the purchase of large scale mining equipment.

Bank guarantees are a form of ‘security’ and provide the beneficiary with confidence that the issuer is capable of fulfilling its obligations and is an indicator of the issuer’s financial stability. From the issuer’s perspective, a bank guarantee demonstrates its willingness to perform its obligations whilst at the same time retaining its cash.

That’s correct, Assuro will only provide bank guarantees that are 100% cash secured. This means that if you need a $100,000 bank guarantee you will need to deposit $100,000 with Assuro’s bank guarantee provider, an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution approved under the Banking Act 1959 (Cth).

Don't want to tie down the cash?
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The beneficiary is the party who receives the bank guarantee and can “call” on it if payment of the money is required or contractual obligations are not being performed.

In addition to the security being deposited directly with the bank issuing the bank guarantee, Assuro will charge a standard fee of 1.25% p.a. (incl .GST) with payment being required half yearly, in advance for the term of the bank guarantee. A $330 (incl GST) once-off establishment fee is also payable at the outset.   Custom pricing may be offered to members of our channel partners or individual users of the Assuro platform depending on the size or volume of bank guarantees being applied for. There is no cost to set up an account with Assuro.  Simply follow the prompts on our website to register as a user.  Once registered, you can apply for a bank guarantee.

It only takes a few minutes to complete the initial Assuro application process. Once it is complete and the invoice paid, Assuro will conduct the relevant AML/KYC checks before submitting the application to our bank guarantee provider. You will then receive an email from our provider requesting that the application be approved. A draft bank guarantee will then be issued for approval by the issuer and the beneficiary. If no amendments are necessary, the cash security is deposited with our provider and the bank guarantee finalised. The bank guarantee will then be sent to the nominated delivery address by express post.

No. The application process is entirely digital. However, we may need some physical documents to be emailed in order to complete our AML/KYC checks on individuals associated with the application.

The bank guarantee will be sent by express to the nominated delivery address. It can either be sent to the issuer or directly to the beneficiary.

Simply contact your relationship manager at Assuro and complete a form. Alternatively contact Assuro at info@assuro.com.au or call us on 08 6215 0406.

In addition to Assuro’s competitive fees, bank guarantees established through the Assuro platform will automatically integrate with Assuro Cloud, our market leading management platform. Assuro Cloud will allow you to set reminders, track the custodian, generate reports and utilise cost calculators to ensure that your business has tighter control over its bank guarantees and streamlined administration processes.

You can nominate whether the bank guarantee will have an expiry date. Generally, this is a matter dictated either by the applicable contract or the beneficiary. Even if the bank guarantee doesn’t have an expiry date on it, Assuro Cloud will allow you to set an expected return date so you can be reminded to follow up the beneficiary once the bank guarantee should have been returned.

Yes. You can do this one of two ways. You can either create a new bank guarantee and then use it to replace the existing bank guarantee but this will mean that for a short period of time you will have paid two security deposits. To avoid this, Assuro has developed the Bank Guarantee Switch product which enables you to replace an existing bank guarantee without doubling up on the security deposit. There is a transfer fee when using the Bank Guarantee Switch feature.