<\/p>\n
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim) is being outmuscled by rival export credit agencies and must tackle stringent content rules and staffing constraints to bolster its competitiveness, according to banks and exporters.<\/p>\n
As revealed in US Exim\u2019s latest annual competitiveness report, export credit agencies (ECAs) around the world provided US$115.4bn in medium to long-term (MLT) export credit support globally last year, a 20% rise from 2023.<\/p>\n
China reclaimed its position as the world\u2019s largest MLT export credit provider, with volumes reaching US$23.5bn. It was followed by Germany (US$18.6bn), Italy (US$16.9bn), France (US$12.1bn) and Korea (US$9.2bn), according to data provided by ECAs and third-party sources.<\/p>\n
US Exim maintained its seventh-place ranking, providing US$5.9bn in MLT support last year, up from US$4.7bn in 2023.<\/p>\n
But according to US Exim\u2019s report, which also draws on a survey of dozens of US exporters and lenders, the agency is failing to keep pace with competitors that are developing innovative solutions and approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cExim is running a 20th century ECA now into the first quarter of the 21st century,\u201d says James Cruse, US Exim\u2019s acting president and chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolicies and practices such as content, risk appetite, and processing requirements that were quite effective and competitive 30 years ago have been turned on Exim by a rapidly evolving official ECA world to the point that these policies and practices are referenced by competitors to buyers as reasons to not use Exim,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
Pointing to feedback from global trade heads and export finance bankers, Cruse says US Exim is the \u201cECA of last resort\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Exim has taken some well-received actions, such as setting up the China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP) as well as adding the Make More in America initiative and the Supply Chain Resiliency Initiative; these steps have been short-changed for resources and outfitted with very conservative policy tools,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
According to the report, 64% of the exporters and banks surveyed found the agency is \u201cfar less competitive\u201d or \u201cslightly less competitive\u201d than its major export credit counterparts \u2013 a rating that has not dropped below 60% since US Exim\u2019s reauthorisation in 2019. Prior to that, the ECA was effectively shuttered for four years amid opposition from Republican politicians, leaving it without a board quorum and unable to sign deals larger than US$10mn.<\/p>\n
\u201cUS exporters and lenders made perfectly clear that this rating will not change unless and until Exim addresses Exim\u2019s main challenge to competitiveness: its domestic content restrictions,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolicies and practices such as content, risk appetite, and processing requirements that were quite effective and competitive 30 years ago have been turned on Exim by a rapidly evolving official ECA world to the point that these policies and practices are referenced by competitors to buyers as reasons to not use Exim,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
Pointing to feedback from global trade heads and export finance bankers, Cruse says US Exim is the \u201cECA of last resort\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Exim has taken some well-received actions, such as setting up the China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP) as well as adding the Make More in America initiative and the Supply Chain Resiliency Initiative; these steps have been short-changed for resources and outfitted with very conservative policy tools,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
According to the report, 64% of the exporters and banks surveyed found the agency is \u201cfar less competitive\u201d or \u201cslightly less competitive\u201d than its major export credit counterparts \u2013 a rating that has not dropped below 60% since US Exim\u2019s reauthorisation in 2019. Prior to that, the ECA was effectively shuttered for four years amid opposition from Republican politicians, leaving it without a board quorum and unable to sign deals larger than US$10mn.<\/p>\n
\u201cUS exporters and lenders made perfectly clear that this rating will not change unless and until Exim addresses Exim\u2019s main challenge to competitiveness: its domestic content restrictions,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n
As mandated by its charter, US Exim requires borrowers to prove that at least 85% of an export contract\u2019s content is produced in the US.<\/p>\n
Under its CTEP, the agency has more flexibility: it can reduce its domestic content requirement to 51% \u2013 or potentially lower \u2013 if in doing so it helps firms win contracts over Chinese competitors.<\/p>\n
But US Exim\u2019s clients and lending partners view this leniency as insufficient, the report shows, with 72% of respondents describing its content policy as having \u201cnegative\u201d or \u201cslightly negative\u201d impact on the agency\u2019s competitiveness \u2013 up from 64% in the previous year\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n
Rival ECAs have adopted domestic content requirements of as low as 20 or 30%.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, European ECAs are beginning to mimic their Asian counterparts, opting to consider a company\u2019s domestic footprint and economic contribution rather than the exports generated by a single deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven Germany\u2014with its well-known stringent German content requirements\u2014joined the chorus of ECAs willing to cover transactions that are more flexible on content,\u201d says the report, pointing to Euler Hermes \u201cflex&cover\u201d product that considers inputs such as tax contributions, employment and training.<\/p>\n
Beyond policy, implementation is another area of concern. Some ECAs actively promote their flexible content requirements in a bid to secure \u201cfirst mover\u201d advantage in the early stages of a project, building a rapport with project sponsors and influencing supplier selection, the report states.<\/p>\n
\u201cECAs effectively leveraged their initial letters of interest (also known as expressions of interest) to broadly provide an indication of financing terms potentially available for a project based on a limited review of information supplied by the sponsor. Foreign ECAs did not include detailed domestic content or other policy requirements in the letter of interest to encourage positive consideration of the tentative offer and instead opted for discussing eligibility criteria and other policy requirements if the letter of interest was accepted,\u201d it notes.<\/p>\n
Switzerland, Poland, the UK and Canada have all developed proactive approaches that help matchmake exporters with project developers, it adds.<\/p>\n
US Exim\u2019s lengthy and cumbersome approval processes were also cited as key hurdles to its competitiveness, with banks and lenders decrying its \u201cmajor staffing gaps\u201d and a lack of experience among personnel as potential contributors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see other ECAs getting to a no or yes much faster, with greater predictability,\u201d said one bank in US Exim\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a transaction is\u2026 in-house, we note the deal teams are under-resourced or lack certain technical skills to move a transaction forward in a prudent manner. It is very challenging for lenders to manage borrowers, who need predictability on financing, and outside of certain sectors (i.e. aviation), it is very difficult to build out timelines that partners can rely on,\u201d the financial institution added.<\/p>\n
Survey respondents reiterated longstanding criticisms of US Exim\u2019s stringent shipping requirements, which mandate the use of US-flagged ships for larger transactions.<\/p>\n
During focus group sessions, banks and lenders also queried the impact of political instability on the agency\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n
US Exim will require further reauthorisation from Congress by December 31, 2026, to continue operating \u2013 a condition not faced by its ECA peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther ECAs do not have this requirement, which exporters and lenders viewed as a source of uncertainty,\u201d the report states. \u201cLenders noted unease from clients reconsidering applying for future Exim support given the typically multiyear project lifecycle and the need for a reliable ECA partner to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim) is being outmuscled by rival export credit agencies and must tackle stringent content rules and staffing constraints to bolster its competitiveness, according to banks and exporters. As revealed in US Exim\u2019s latest annual competitiveness report, export credit agencies (ECAs) around the world provided US$115.4bn in medium […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bez-rubriki"],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/US-Exim-Bank-1.jpg",640,427,false],"list":["https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/US-Exim-Bank-1-463x348.jpg",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/US-Exim-Bank-1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"full":["https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/US-Exim-Bank-1.jpg",640,427,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4462,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460\/revisions\/4462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relinvestmentsgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}