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ARLINGTON, VA - The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) today launched a two-year collaborative effort to promote EXIM export financing products among federally-insured credit unions and their clients. The initiative will encourage credit unions to participate in EXIM's lending programs in order to reduce credit unions' risk on small business loans and increase the financing resources available to their small business members.

EXIM Chairman Kimberly A. Reed and NAFCU President and CEO B. Dan Berger signed the memorandum of understanding at NAFCU's headquarters in Arlington, VA with the intent to collaborate on educational initiatives and other outreach efforts throughout the credit union industry.

"It was an honor to join NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger today to sign the first-ever EXIM-NAFCU Memorandum of Understanding," said Chairman Reed. "For more than two decades, I have engaged with credit unions on issues important to the U.S. economy, small businesses, and millions of consumers. Today's effort memorializes an important commitment to help America's small business owners who seek export financing solutions to be successful in the global marketplace. As we re-open our economy, I look forward to working with NAFCU President Berger to raise awareness with credit unions and their members about the support EXIM can provide."

"NAFCU is proud to partner with the Export-Import Bank to increase awareness of the lending opportunities the agency has available for credit unions' small-business members," said President Berger. "Credit unions have long been committed to supporting Main Street small businesses, now more than ever as adversity persists and challenges mount in today's economy. It is paramount that credit unions remain informed of all available lending options, including EXIM's guaranteed loan which is exempt from the member business lending cap."

Federally-insured credit unions are an important part of the United States' financial structure, with more than 5,000 institutions having total membership reaching 120.4 million during the fourth quarter of 2019. Total assets in federally-insured credit unions reached $1.57 trillion at the same time, with total outstanding loans of $64 billion.

On June 9, 2020, EXIM signed a similar memorandum of understanding with the National Credit Union Administration, launching EXIM's first-ever targeted outreach to credit unions.

As part of EXIM's recent reauthorization, Congress directed EXIM to build on the agency's robust support of small businesses even further, and this MOU is an important step toward that goal.

EXIM Chairman Kimberly A. Reed and NAFCU President and CEO B. Dan Berger

ABOUT EXIM:

EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to support sales of U.S. goods and services to international buyers. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency's authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.

For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.

ABOUT NAFCU:

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation's federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.