How to Get a Bank Guarantee Without Collateral

Most deals don’t fall apart because they lack commercial merit — they fall apart because they lack collateral. Project sponsors, contractors, and trade operators run into the same wall: banks won’t issue a bank guarantee unless you secure it. But what if you can’t?

What Is a Bank Guarantee?

A bank guarantee is a financial commitment issued by a bank on your behalf. If you default on a contract or loan, the bank pays your counterparty. It’s not a loan — it’s a credit enhancement tool that unlocks capital, bids, or supply chains.

Why Collateral Is Usually Required

Banks carry the risk when issuing a guarantee. Unless you're an existing client with a strong balance sheet or assets pledged, most will ask for full collateral — which defeats the purpose if you’re using the guarantee to unlock funding.

How Financely Helps Clients Without Collateral

We work with deal-ready clients who lack security but still need to issue guarantees. Here’s our process.

Step-by-Step: Our Underwriting and Structuring Process

1. Deal File Preparation

We start by reviewing your contracts, commercial terms, and use of proceeds. You need to have a real deal — not just an idea. If the project is viable, we help you prepare a full underwriter-grade deal file including a summary, timeline, repayment plan, and legal structure.

2. Underwriting Review

We perform a proprietary credit review. This includes:

• Counterparty assessment(Are your buyer/supplier/contracting entities credible?)
• Cash flow logic(Is there a clear source of repayment?)
• Contract validation(Can the deal be executed and enforced?)
• Risk layering(Is there downside protection?)

3. Networked Contract Structuring

In some cases, your network of contracts — buyer agreements, offtakes, pre-leases — can be aggregated into a proof-of-funds structure. If these contracts are bankable , we can use them to justify issuance.

4. Supplementing Collateral via Investor or Lender Participation

If your network of contracts isn’t sufficient, we can help bring in a third party:

• Through a Reg D offering: We raise capital from accredited investors who co-risk the structure.
• Through a promissory note facility: We work with private lenders who will post up to 25% of the required collateral in exchange for return participation or a first-loss cushion.

This hybrid approach often gets deals across the line where banks otherwise say no.

Which Banks Actually Issue

We submit pre-qualified applications to a verified network of 16 institutional issuers — a mix of top-tier global and regional banks, including:

• HSBC
• Standard Chartered
• Barclays
• UBS
• Mashreq Bank
• Banque Misr
• Zenith Bank
• National Bank of Egypt
• Banorte
• Access Bank
• First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
• Absa
• Commerzbank
• Bank of Africa
• Banco do Brasil
• U.S. regional banks we have platform access to (not disclosed publicly)

Documents You’ll Need

• Signed contract or bid/tender notice
• Company KYC + incorporation docs
• Repayment plan or monetization pathway
• Financials and use of proceeds breakdown

Who This Works For

• Contractors needing bid or performance guarantees
• Project sponsors seeking advance payments or loan disbursement
• Exporters/importers who want to issue security for suppliers
• Capital raisers blocked at the “we need a guarantee” stage

What It Costs

Bank guarantee issuance costs typically range from 1.5% to 5% annually, depending on structure, duration, and jurisdiction. Financely charges a fixed structuring retainer plus a success fee if the instrument is issued.

Bottom Line

If your project is real, but your collateral is thin — you don’t need a miracle. You need a structure. At Financely, we help clients access institutional-grade guarantees through rigorous underwriting, smart packaging, and the ability to supplement security creatively. No fluff, no promises we can’t back. Just execution.