At the ICC Banking Commission in London on 9 November, I was honoured to receive the inaugural Wilbert Ward Trade Finance Excellence Award for 2026. The ICC advised me that the award was in recognition of my outstanding contribution to the development and interpretation of ICC rules and standards.
The inaugural award was also given to David Meynell, the current ICC Senior Technical Adviser.
For those that do not know:
Wilbert Ward was a senior banker with National City Bank of New York and one of the true pioneers of modern documentary credit practice.
· On 20 October 1926, at an ICC Council meeting, Ward proposed that the ICC should pursue international uniformity in export commercial credit practice to eliminate differences between countries and reduce disputes between banks and traders.
· The proposal was referred to the ICC’s Committee on Bills of Exchange and Cheques for development.
· In February 1927, the committee reviewed the first draft of what were then called the Uniform Regulations on Export Commercial Credits. The draft was based on existing national rules from Argentina, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States.
· At the Fourth ICC Congress in Stockholm (27 June to 2 July 1927), the initiative gained broader international support. ICC records specifically state that the proposal of Wilbert Ward, the U.S. representative, launched the process that ultimately became the UCP.
· After several years of drafting and consultation, the first version of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits was formally issued in 1933.
Without Ward’s push for harmonisation in 1926-1927, international letter of credit practice might have remained fragmented under differing national banking rules for many more years.
This makes Ward arguably one of the founding fathers of modern documentary credit practice and, indirectly, of every version from UCP 82 through to today’s UCP 600.
To commemorate 100 years since Ward’s efforts for harmonisation succeeded, the ICC has created the ICC Wilbert Ward Trade Finance Excellence Award.
It should be noted that on 1 July 2027, the UCP 600 will have been in operation for 20 years. The longest of any version of the UCP. This is a testament to the dedication of the members of my Drafting Group, the Consulting Group that reviewed and commented on our drafts, the ICC National Committees that gathered comments, suggestions and ideas from their membership and the document examiners, past and present, that have applied the rules. A collective effort.
Gary Collyer