To cover the possibility that Brazil will devalue its currency, Vitech must provide $1.25 in receivables for every $1 it receives from the acceptance corporation.
In his letter, Mr. Corwick said Jersey City had accumulated more than $20 million in receivables -- amounts the city had anticipated getting but not yet received -- that it might never collect.
The portfolio has about $2.3 billion in receivables, the bank said.
It has 100 employees, 4,000 commercial customers and $950 million in receivables.
"The wholesale took a huge hit in receivables," said Ariane Daguin, the owner of D'Artagnan, a large supplier of specialty meats.
His firm typically has $4.5 million a week in receivables, he said, and payments started slowing in November 2008.
Bank of Hawaii, a unit of the Pacific Century Financial Corporation, has about $226 million in receivables and 148,000 card customers.
When he left in July 2000, the ratio was $1.20 in receivables for each dollar in quarterly sales.
Penney, based in Plano, Tex., has about $5.2 billion in debt, while its Eckerd drugstore chain has about $200 million in receivables not counted on the company's balance sheet.
When Mr. Cheney became Halliburton's chief executive in October 1995, Halliburton had roughly 95 cents in receivables for every dollar in quarterly revenues.
