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Tribute to Bernard S. Wheble |
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Tribute to Bernard S. Wheble |
Tribute to Bernard Spencer Wheble
My first encounter with Bernard Spencer Wheble whom I regard as the father of the letter of credit, was my participation in a UCP seminar held in Hong Kong 30 years ago. I was amazed by his profound knowledge on the subject and his analytic mind. After the seminar, on the way home, in the Star Ferry, whilst looking at the cargo ships in the fragrant harbour and evening skyline, I made up my mind to take up letter of credit as my profession.
I therefore pursued further studies in this subject. When I had queries, I summoned the courage to write to the great Master directly. To my surprise, he answered and his letters appeared to have been personally typewritten. At the time I was a supervisor in an import and export house and never expected to be treated in such a way.
Amongst his many words of wisdom, I am most impressed of his assertion that the document checkers in the banks should check the documents with common sense other than picking on highly technical discrepancies to avoid their payment obligation. I share his view that the letter of credit, supposed to be a payment mechanism, is now being practised as a non-payment mechanism by the parties.
In Hong Kong, we have the custom to write verses to highlight the achievements of the deceased which will be displayed in the funeral parlour. In my Friday column in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on 6 March 1998, I prepared the following verses to pay tribute to the great Master.
坐鎮ICC，
領導群英，創立不世功業突破UCP，
統一全球，建基電子貿易The English translation of my verses is:
As the chairman of the ICC Banking Commission, leading the experts, he has made "out-of-this-world" achievements.
Making a breakthrough to the UCP as an international standard practice, (out of the London Practice), he has also laid down the foundation of electronic commerce in the future.
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