News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has expanded its support for U.S. small business exports by approving two more lenders for its Medium-Term Delegated Authority (MTDA) Program - Frost National Bank, San Antonio, Texas, and PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Under the program, approved lenders can increase use of Ex-Im Bank's medium-term guarantees supporting commercial loans for foreign buyers of U.S. capital goods such as machinery and equipment. The program is designed to reduce transaction turnaround time and provide additional support for U.S. small-business exports.

Frost National Bank (Frost), a major regional lender with more than 100 financial centers throughout Texas, initially plans to use the program to support clients' exports to Mexico.

PNC Bank (PNC) is one of the largest users of Ex-Im Bank's short- and medium-term products, including working capital loan guarantees.

We welcome the growing, diverse range of banks that are showing interest in this program, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. Through these lenders, we look forward to reaching, and more efficiently serving, even more small and medium-sized U.S. exporters.

Frost and PNC join three other lenders already approved for the MTDA Program: Citibank, N.A., New York, N.Y.; UPS Capital Business Credit, Windsor, Conn.; and NorthStar Trade Finance, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Under the program, approved lenders have delegated authority to underwrite and authorize Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed medium-term transactions without prior Ex-Im Bank review and approval. In each transaction, the lender will be required to share the credit risk by retaining 10 percent of the commercial risk but will also retain 10 percent of the Ex-Im Bank exposure fee. Transactions involving small-business exporters or small-business suppliers will be eligible for increased Ex-Im Bank risk coverage, and the lender's commercial-risk retention will be reduced to 8 percent.

The lenders all have a thorough knowledge of Ex-Im Bank policies and credit standards, enabling them to expedite approvals and help U.S. exporters offer timely financing to their foreign customers.

Loans approved under the program may have repayment terms of two to five years. Transactions requiring a higher degree of specialized judgment, such as those involving complex financing, environmental or economic-impact analysis, may be excluded. Excluded transactions may be submitted for consideration under Ex-Im Bank's standard medium-term guarantee program.

Interested lenders may contact Tom Fitzpatrick, Trade Finance and Insurance senior relationship manager, at (202) 565-3642, or Charles Goohs, senior Strategic Initiatives officer, at (202) 565-3790. Detailed information on the MTDA program is available on the Internet at http://www.exim.gov.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 75th year, helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. In fiscal year 2008, Ex-Im Bank authorized $14.4 billion in financing to support an estimated $19.6 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. Eighty-six percent of nearly 2,328 transactions directly benefited small-business exporters.