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Export-Import Bank Competitiveness Report Survey
INTRODUCTION
The Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 (as amended) directs EXIM to report annually to the U.S. Congress on any actions taken toward providing export credit programs that
are competitive with those offered by official foreign export credit agencies. The Report measures competitiveness through a series of comparisons which draw on
quantitative information about the programs and policies of the major foreign export credit agencies. For instance, the report evaluates EXIM’s competitiveness on the core
financing elements of official export credit support: interest rates, risk premia, and risk taking. In addition, EXIM provides a comparative assessment of how well the
financing elements are packaged into major programs: aircraft, project finance, co-financing, environmental exports, and services exports. Finally, EXIM evaluates
noteworthy public policy considerations that affect EXIM’s services and therefore have the potential to impact U.S. exporter competitiveness: economic impact, content, and
shipping polices.
As part of this report, Congress requires EXIM to conduct a survey of users of our programs to gain insights into EXIM's real-world utility and competitiveness. Your views
are essential in understanding how EXIM can support the success of American businesses in the international marketplace. Your participation is also very critical in
obtaining a representative and valid sample of EXIM Bank users and substantiating the Bank’s true performance.
INSTRUCTIONS
One response per company.
Please respond to all questions based on the company’s experience in calendar year 2015.
If your company engaged EXIM for more than one transaction, please respond with your average experience and use the general comments section to discuss how a
specific deal differed (e.g., your company’s experience with the long-term loan program compared to the medium-term insurance program).
Questions that require a response are marked with a red asterisk (
* ).
1. Name
2. Title
3. Phone
4. E-mail
5. *Company
6. What EXIM program(s) did your company utilize?
Choose all that apply.
Long-term guarantee
Long-term loan
Medium-term guarantee
Medium-term insurance
Medium-term loan
Short-term insurance
Working capital
Company did no business with EXIM
Other:
7. *Did your company utilize EXIM to finance aircraft?
Yes
No
8. *Did your company utilize EXIM for project or structured finance deals?
Yes
No
9. Is your company an exporter, a lender, or a project sponsor?
Exporter
Lender
Project Sponsor
10. How many suppliers did your company use to execute export contracts?
None
1 - 25
26 - 50
76 - 100
100+
Don’t know
11. How many employees did your supplier(s) employ?
Under 1,000
1,000 - 10,000
10,000+
Don't know
12. Did your company work with Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) besides EXIM?
Yes
No
13. With which foreign ECAs did your company do business?
Choose all that apply.
BNDES/SBCE (Brazil)
EulerHermes (Germany)
CESCE (Spain)
Finnvera (Finland)
Sinosure/China Exim (China)
COFACE (France)
GIEK/ECN (Norway)
Other:
ECGD (United Kingdom)
EDC (Canada)
SACE (Italy)
JBIC/NEXI (Japan)
KSURE/KEXIM (Korea)
14. Overall, how would you compare EXIM to other ECAs? EXIM is
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
15. Did you work on a transaction where a buyer chose between two suppliers who were each supported by an export credit agency?
Yes
No
16. Did the buyer choose the supplier supported by U.S EXIM or the foreign ECA?
U.S. EXIM supported company
Foreign ECA supported company
17. What was the main factor in the buyer’s decision?
Non-ECA related factor
Exposure fee
Tenor
Interest rates
Environmental policy
Shipping policy
Ease of doing business
Economic Impact Policy
Foreign content policy
Other
18. Do you work with another ECAs' headquarters, satellite offices, or both?
Headquarters
Satellite
Both
Don't know
19. How did EXIM's response time to routine calls and inquiries compare with that of other ECAs?
EXIM had much slower response time
EXIM had slightly slower response
time
EXIM had equal response time
EXIM had slightly faster response time
EXIM had much faster response time
20. How did EXIM’s ease of doing business impact EXIM’s competitiveness with other ECAs?
Made EXIM far less competitive
Made EXIM slightly less competitive
Made EXIM equally competitive
Made EXIM slightly more competitive
Made EXIM much more competitive
Don't know
21. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with foreign ECAs.
22. Overall, how did EXIM's support for aircraft transactions compare with that offered by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
23. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's aircraft financing.
Project finance: The financing of an asset (or “project”) whereby the lender relies on the underlying cash flows being generated by the asset as the sole source of
repayment for the loan.
Structured finance: Financing relies on the underlying project’s revenues to ensure against the risk of non payment, but project revenues are not the sole source of
repayment.
24. Overall, how did EXIM's support for project finance or structured finance transactions compare with that offered by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
25. Specifically, how did EXIM's support for project of structured finance transactions compare with that offered by each of the following ECAs?
Far less competitive
BNDES/SBCE (Brazil)
COFACE (France)
ECGD (United Kingdom)
EDC (Canada)
EulerHermes (Germany)
JBIC/NEXI (Japan)
SACE (Italy)
Sinosure/China Exim
(China)
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
26. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's project finance.
Cover policy: The extent to which an ECA is open for business in a country across tenors and buyer types. It should represent an ECA’s general attitude about a country.
27. How did EXIM's country cover policy compare with that of other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
28. For each of the following aspects, how did EXIM’s cover policy compare with that of other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Availability of cover by
market
Use of country exposure
limits
29. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's cover policy.
Much more competitive
Don't know
Non sovereign entities: Public or private entities that do not carry the full faith and credit of a sovereign state.
Risk taking: The extent to which an ECA is willing to provide export credit support in a market.
Sovereign entities: Entities that are explicitly and legally mandated to enter into a debt payment obligation on behalf of a sovereign state, typically the ministry of
finance or central bank.
30. How did other ECAs willingness to take risk taking compare with that offered by EXIM?
Worse than
EXIM
Same as
EXIM
Better than
EXIM
Don't know
31. For each of the following types of buyers, how did other ECAs’ risk appetite compare with that of other EXIM?
Worse than EXIM
Same as EXIM
Better than EXIM
Sovereign buyers
Public non-sovereign buyers
Corporate buyers
32. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's approach to risk taking.
Don't know
Commercial Interest Reference Rate (CIRR): The official fixed interest rate offered under EXIM’s direct loan program.
Floating interest rate: The interest rate offered by banks using EXIM’s guarantee program.
Interest rates: Either the fixed rate CIRR for direct loans as established by the OECD rules on export credits or floating rates charged by guaranteed or insured lenders.
33. For each of the following types of interest rates, how did EXIM’s interest rates compare with those of other ECAs?
EXIM’s rates are lower
EXIM’s rates are the same
CIRR-based fixed interest rates
Floating interest rates
34. Compared to EXIM, when do other ECAs set the interest rate?
Earlier in the process than EXIM
Same time in the process than EXIM
Later in the process than EXIM
Don’t know
35. Compared to EXIM, how long do other ECAs set the interest rate?
Shorter amount of time than EXIM
Same amount of time as EXIM
Longer amount of time than EXIM
36. What interest rate flexibilities do other ECAs offer that EXIM does not?
EXIM’s rates are higher
Don’t know
37. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's approach to interest rates.
Exposure fees (or risk premia): Fees that cover the risk of nonpayment for a transaction.
38. Overall, how did EXIM's exposure fees compare with those offered by other ECAs?
EXIM’s fees are lower
EXIM’s fees are the same
EXIM’s fees are higher
Don’t know
39. What was your company's exposure fee payment method?
Choose all that apply.
Upfront
As drawn
Don't know
40. Did EXIM’s method of collecting upfront exposure fees pose any competitive implications for your company’s ability to finance transactions
through EXIM?
Yes
No
Don't know
41. Did your company benefit from EXIM’s exposure fee financing?
Yes
No
Don't know
40. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's exposure fee.
Environmental review: A review of the environmental impacts of a project pursuant to Ex‐Im Bank’s Environmental Procedures and Guidelines.
41. Did your company have experience with EXIM's environmental review?
Yes
No
Don't know
42. How did EXIM's environmental review compare with that required by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
43. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's environmental review.
Environmentally beneficial exports: Exports qualifying for enhanced support under Ex‐Im Bank's Environmental Export Program (e.g., renewable‐energy and water
exports).
44. Did your company have experience with EXIM's environmentally beneficial exports program?
Yes
No
Don't know
45. For the following aspects, how did EXIM’s environmentally beneficial exports program compare with similar programs of other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Renewable-energy
extended terms
Premia amount
Premia payment method
Support of energy-efficient
exports
46. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM’s environmentally beneficial exports program.
Don't know
Services: Economic output that is intangible in nature and that is generally produced and consumed at the same time.
47. Did your company have experience with EXIM's financing of services?
Yes
No
Don't know
48. How did EXIM's support for services compare with that offered by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
49. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's policies towards services.
Co‐financing (also referred to as “reinsurance” and “one‐stop‐shop”): Financing arrangements that allow an exporter to market a single ECA financing package to a
buyer interested in procuring goods and services from two (or more) countries.
50. Did your company have experience with EXIM's co-financing program?
Yes
No
Don't know
51. How did EXIM’s co-financing program compare with that of other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
52. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's co-financing program.
Local costs: Project‐related costs for goods and services originated and incurred in the buyer's country.
53. Did any of your company's transactions benefit from local cost financing?
Yes
No
Don't know
54. Please identify the nature of the local costs used by your company.
Choose all that apply.
Inland freight and transportation
Taxes
Local construction
Deliveries from local subsidiaries and/or affiliates
Other
55. Did EXIM’s local cost policy affect your company’s sourcing decisions?
Yes
No
Don't know
56. How does EXIM's local cost policy compare to other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
57. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM local cost policy.
Aggregation: An exporter can choose to certify to the foreign content within his/her products on an item‐by‐item basis or can choose to aggregate the level of foreign
content of all the items listed in a single invoice.
Average annual content certification: Exporters can choose to calculate the average foreign content for each export from a specific location/manufacturing facility,
which is based on a projected level of foreign content. This calculation is applied to Ex‐Im financing for that specific export for the following year.
Codification of Ex‐Im’s services content policy: During Ex‐Im Bank’s 2013‐2014 content review process, the Bank sought to clarify and codify its services content policy
by defining eligibility standards for: 1) what constitutes an eligible services contract; 2) which workers qualify as U.S. content; 3) the treatment of licenses; and 4) the
content requirements for tools used in the execution of a services export contract.
Foreign content: The portion of an export that originates outside the seller’s country, excluding local costs incurred in the buyer’s country. A product must be shipped
from the United States to qualify as either U.S. export or U.S. content.
58. Did any of your company’s transactions with EXIM involve foreign content?
Yes
No
Don't know
59. Did EXIM’s foreign content policy affect your company’s sourcing decisions?
Yes
No
Don't know
60. Please explain how it affected your sourcing decision.
61. How does EXIM's foreign content policy compare with other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
62. Have EXIM's efforts to add additional flexibility to its foreign content policy helped increase EXIM's competitiveness vis-a-vis other ECA's foreign
content policies?
These flexibilities include: average annual content certification, codifying the services content policy, and allowing aggregation of content as opposed to calculating support on an
item-by-item basis.
Did not increase competitiveness at all
Slightly increased competitiveness
Greatly increased competitiveness
Don’t know
63. Please provide comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's content policy.
Economic impact: The congressional requirement that EXIM assess whether the extension of EXIM financing support is likely to cause substantial injury to U.S. industry
or would result in the production of substantially the same product that is the subject of specified trade measures.
64. Did EXIM's economic impact policy affect any of your company’s transactions?
Yes
No
Don't know
65. Did EXIM’s economic impact policy affect your company’s sourcing decisions?
Yes
No
Don't know
66. How does this requirement compare with other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
67. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's economic impact policy.
Certifications or determinations (historically referred to as waivers): When MARAD advises EXIM whether shipments on foreign flagged vessels are eligible for EXIM
financing. For certifications, MARAD considers vessel availability, and for determinations, MARAD considers other related matters such as future shipments under the
transaction.
MARAD: U.S. Marine Administration.
68. Did any of your deals have to conform to the requirement to ship on U.S. flagged vessels?
Yes
No
Don't know
69. Did you approach MARAD for any certifications of Non-Availability?
Yes
No
Don't know
70. Was your company satisfied with the outcome?
Please elaborate in comments section below.
Yes
No
Don't know
71. Did you approach MARAD for any determination (e.g. Compensatory, General, Reachback)?
Yes
No
Don't know
72. Was your company satisfied with the outcome?
Please elaborate in comments section below.
Yes
No
Don't know
73. For those transactions that were affected by the U.S. flagged vessel shipping requirement, how many had the following final outcomes:
U.S. export transaction went forward with EXIM financing.
U.S. export transaction went forward without EXIM financing.
U.S. export transaction did not go forward because buyer selected another competitor.
74. Does this shipping requirement make EXIM more or less competitive with other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
75. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's shipping policy.
Market Windows: Government‐sponsored programs that assert to offer export credit on market terms outside of the OECD Arrangement rules. ECAs often
simultaneously manage an “Official Window” that offers OCED Arrangement terms for riskier transactions.
Non‐OECD Compliant Export Financing: Transactions that do not comply with the OECD Arrangement.
Untied financing: A form of credit support that is extended by a government entity to a recipient for the purpose of providing credit and is not linked to or conditioned
upon the purchase of goods and services/exports from the donor government. Untied financing is characterized as market‐based financing, especially regarding the
interest rate, but may not require any cash down payment and/or have repayment terms in excess of what is allowed under the OECD Arrangement.
76. Did your company encounter competition benefitting from non-OECD compliant financing (such as Market Windows)?
Yes
No
Don't know
77. From which country?
78. How did this competition impact your sales?
79. Did your company encounter competition benefiting from official untied financing programs?
Yes
No
Don't know
80. From which country?
81. How did this competition impact your sales?
82. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience competing with businesses that benefit from non-standard financing.
Tied aid: Concessional financing support provided by donor governments in the form of a grant or a “soft” loan for which capital goods procurement by developing
countries is contractually linked or tied to procurement from firms located in the donor country.
83. Did your company encounter foreign competition benefitting from tied aid financing programs?
Yes
No
Don't know
84. In general, how did EXIM’s tied aid financing compare with that offered by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
85. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with tied aid.
Foreign currency guarantee: ECA-covered export credit that is denominated in a currency (either hard or soft) other than the ECA’s domestic currency. Hard currencies refer to
readily convertible currencies such as the euro or yen. Soft currencies refer to currencies, not readily convertible, such as the Mexican peso or South African rand.
86. Did your company use EXIM’s foreign currency guarantee program?
Yes
No
Don't know
87. Generally speaking, how did EXIM’s foreign currency guarantee program compare with that offered by other ECAs?
Far less competitive
Slightly less competitive
Equally competitive
Slightly more competitive
Much more competitive
Don't know
88. Which of the following types of support did your company request from EXIM?
Hard currency
Soft currency
Both hard and soft currency
Don't know
89. Please provide general comments on your company’s experience with EXIM's foreign currency guarantee program.
Denied deals: Transactions that your company submitted to EXIM but for some reason were not approved.
90. Did EXIM deny any of your company’s applications?
Yes
No
Don't know
91. How many of your company’s EXIM applications were denied?
1
4
2
5
3
6+
92. What happened to those transactions that EXIM denied?
Choose all that apply.
Won without EXIM support
Still in process/no decision yet
Sourced from non-U.S. supplier
Postponed
Sourced from your company's foreign subsidiary
Buyer cancelled procurement
Sourced from other U.S. supplier
Don’t know
93. Please provide any general comments on denied deals that you wish to share.
Deterred deals: Transactions that either did not come to EXIM because of prior knowledge of EXIM’s eligibility requirements and/or policy or the application was
withdrawn by the exporter because the exporter and/or lender realized that EXIM approval was going to be difficult to obtain.
94. Did any of EXIM's policies deter your company from seeking EXIM support for any transactions?
Yes
No
Don't know
95. Which of the following were reasons for not applying to, or withdrawing an application from, EXIM?
Choose all that apply.
Cover policy: Off cover in requested market and/or
specific tenor
Risk-taking: Requirement for risk mitigation and related
costs (legal
Interest rates: Lender guarantee interest rate cost
prohibitive
Environmental policies: Requirement to publish ex-ante overly transparent for competitive reasons
Environmental policies: Environmental review process
MARAD PR-17: Requirement to ship on U.S. flagged vessel
Interest rates: Inability to access to EXIM direct loan
MARAD PR-17: Determination not made
Exposure fees: Better pricing from other ECA
MARAD PR-17: Processing time for determination
Exposure fees: Lack of predictability
Co-financing: Lack of availability and/or flexibility
Services: Stand-alone services not covered
Services: Associated services not covered
Economic impact: Product(s) subject to specific trade
measure
Local costs: Requirement to demonstrate foreign competition and/or local financing not available from
commercial market
Tied aid: Transaction did not meet or not likely to meet EXIM tied aid policy
Tied aid: Processing time
Economic impact: Subject to detailed economic analysis
Market Windows: Request to match financing not granted/Did not meet EXIM requirement(s) to match
Foreign currency guarantee: Lack of availability
Untied financing: Absence of untied financing program
Foreign currency guarantee: EXIM crystallization
requirement
Foreign content: Did not meet EXIM content requirements
Other:
96. Please provide any general comments on deterred deals that you may wish to share.
97. Did any U.S. government actions impact your business with EXIM?
Yes
No
Don't know
98. Overall, what type of impact did these actions have?
Positive
Negative
Neutral
99. Please provide specific examples of which U.S. government actions impacted your deals.
100. Did any foreign government actions impact your business with EXIM?
Yes
No
Don't know
101. Overall, what type of impact did these actions have?
Positive
Negative
Neutral
102Please pro-..de specific examples ot W'llch foreign go'A!rnment adions impacted your deas.
Thank you for taking the survey.
| File Type | application/pdf |
| File Modified | 2016-02-12 |
| File Created | 2016-02-12 |