The seller presents the documents to a bank, often the Advising bank. The Advising bank checks the documents against the L/C. If the documents are compliant, the bank pays the seller and forwards the documents to the Issuing bank.
The Issuing bank now checks the documents itself. If they are in order (and it is a sight L/C), it reimburses the seller’s bank immediately.
The Issuing bank debits the buyer and releases the documents (including transport document), so that the buyer can claim the goods from the carrier.
