ECA
Export credit agencies (ECAs) offer export financing and export-credit insurance services as well as guarantees to facilitate companies’ export activities around the world. More than 70 countries have such institutions, public or semi-public, which provide assistance in mitigating (reducing) export-related risks through financial solutions. The role of ECAs is constantly growing as global trade expands, especially in these times of crisis when commercial banks and market-based insurers are naturally more cautious about financing or insuring international trade transactions. The facilities offered by ECAs may be short-term (less than 2 years), medium-term (2-5 years) or long-term (5-10 years). The service portfolio may vary from institution to institution: some agencies – in contrast to EXIM Hungary – operate only as a bank or only as an insurer and, depending on the latter, provide (among other things) direct lending, refinancing, buyer credit, guarantees or sureties and/or various export-related insurance products. The special fixed interest-rate lending activity of export credit agencies is sometimes limited to interest equalisation (effectively a loan subsidy), leaving the actual lending activity to the commercial banks. The operation of ECAs in the medium and long term is regulated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which in the case of EU Member States is complemented by an export credit working group established within the EU. In addition, a significant number of export credit insurers are members of an international association, the Berne Union.