Receivers of Sabena SA v. Deutsche Bank A.G.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Friedman, J.

This appeal concerns an electronic funds transfer (EFT), governed by article 4-A of the Uniform Commercial Code, that was frozen for more than a decade at a New York intermediary bank pursuant to a federal executive order. The question to be answered is whether, upon the federal government’s issuance of a license permitting the release of the funds, the intermediary bank had an obligation, enforceable by the beneficiary, to complete the EFT by issuing an order to the beneficiary’s bank to pay the beneficiary. We hold that the intermediary bank had no such…