The following excerpt is from a U.S. Export-Import e-mail:
“EVERETT, WASH.: The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced today that The Boeing Company is participating in the Bank’s Supply-Chain Finance Guarantee program, which provides competitively priced working capital financing to suppliers of goods or services to U.S. exporters.
Ex-Im Bank approved the Boeing supplier program in September 2011 with an initial capacity of $740 million. Ex-Im Bank can guarantee up to 90 percent of that capacity. Citibank N.A. (Citi) will serve as the lender operating the program for Boeing’s suppliers. Boeing joins Caterpillar and Case New Holland (CNH) as exporters currently participating in Ex-Im’s program.
The announcement was made today at an event at Boeing’s manufacturing facility in Everett, Wash., where President Barack Obama called for congressional reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank and announced executive branch initiatives to improve the competitive position of U.S. companies, particularly small businesses.
“Ex-Im is proud to have America's number-one exporter, Boeing, join with us in supporting the company's small-business suppliers in the use of our supply-chain financing product. Eligible companies will be able to more quickly turn their accounts receivable into cash, helping them power more sales and support more American jobs," Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred. P. Hochberg said today.
“Increasingly Boeing has called on small business to help us in sustaining export-related jobs. The Supplier Financing Program is a great tool to encourage this key growth area to prosper,” said Tom Dillon, Boeing corporate finance director who led the program’s implementation. “Small business can truly join larger exporters in working together to grow much needed jobs supported by demand for American products the world wants.”
Ex-Im Bank’s Supply-Chain Finance Guarantee Program enables suppliers to receive early payment of their accounts receivable that are due from participating exporters, such as Boeing, in exchange for a small discount fee that is paid to the lender. Ex-Im Bank provides a 90 percent guarantee of the invoices while the lender (Citi for Boeing suppliers) bears 10 percent of the risk.
Under the Ex-Im program, approved lenders must have an existing supply-chain finance program. Ex-Im Bank has set a target that at least 50 percent of the credit be extended to suppliers that meet the definition of a small business as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration by the end of the 12-month term. The end products must be for export and must meet Ex-Im Bank’s requirements for U.S. content.
About Ex-Im Bank:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance, and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services. In the past five years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers $1.9 billion above the cost of its operations.
Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 -- an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales -- also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $41 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 290,000 American jobs in communities across the country.”
