EFIC and Westpac to Explore New Working Capital Product for Australian SME Exporters

The Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, has welcomed the establishment of an alliance between the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) and Westpac to explore the potential of a new financial product to assist small and medium-sized Australian exporters (SMEs) with working capital.

"Exporters frequently cite insufficient working capital as an obstacle to growing their export business," said Mr Vaile.

"While EFIC has assisted SMEs since 1991 via its Export Working Capital Guarantee facility, I am pleased that the Corporation is working with Westpac so it can better support exporters in the current banking environment".

The underlying principle of the new product concept would be to combine banks' resources including extensive distribution systems with EFIC's specialised mandate to assist Australian exporters.

The product concept is to enhance finance provided by a commercial lender and then be available for a broad range of export related purposes. Processing would be streamlined by using the documentation, administration and processing already undertaken by the exporter's bank.

The objective of the EFIC/Westpac alliance would be to launch a pilot of the product for market testing in June 2005. Other commercial banks would be involved in the pilot in a consultative role. If the pilot is successful, the product would be released nationally via the banks in the second half of 2005.

Mr Vaile said that EFIC's cooperation with Westpac on the SME project was a further demonstration of its ability to work with commercial banks to achieve better outcomes for Australian exporters. Mr Vaile welcomed the Corporations ongoing dialogue with Westpac on how they might work more closely together on structured trade finance to support Australia's larger capital goods exporters.

About EFIC

EFIC is Australia's export credit agency and assists Australian companies exporting and investing overseas by providing a range of competitive medium to long-term finance and insurance services. EFIC operates on a commercial basis and pays a dividend to the Government.

Contact: Mr Vaile's office 02 6277 7420, Melissa Bordogna (EFIC Marketing Executive) 02 9201 2129