Bills of exchange can be classified from different perspectives.
(1) According to the drawer, it can be divided into bank draft and commercial draft. Any bill of exchange drawn by an industrial or commercial enterprise or an individual is a commercial draft. In international trade settlement, commercial drafts are usually issued by exporters and are used to entrust local banks to collect payments from foreign importers or banks; any bill of exchange drawn by a bank is a bank’s draft, and the payee of a bank draft is generally a bank.
(2) According to whether commercial documents including transport documents are attached, it can be divided into clean draft and documentary draft. A clean draft is a bill of exchange issued by the drawer without any shipping documents. Bank drafts are generally clean drafts. Documentary drafts are bills of exchange issued with shipping documents. Documentary drafts are generally commercial drafts.
(3) According to the different payment dates, it can be divided into sight bill and time bill.
Sight bill is a bill payable on sight. Time bill is a bill payable on a fixed date and payable several days after the issue/sight/statement date.
(4) According to the different acceptors, it can be divided into commercial acceptance draft and bank acceptance draft. A time bill accepted by an enterprise or individual is a commercial acceptance draft, which is based on commercial credit. A bill accepted by a bank is a bank acceptance draft, which is based on bank credit and is easy to discount and circulate in the market.
(5) According to the different applicable regions of the bill, it can be divided into domestic draft and foreign draft. The place of issue and the place of payment of a domestic bill are within the same country, and the circulation of the bill is also within the country. Foreign bills of exchange refer to bills of exchange where one or both of the places of issue and payment are located abroad, and the circulation of bills of exchange involves more than two countries. According to my country’s Bills of Exchange Law, the bill transactions of foreign bills of exchange occur both within my country and outside my country.