UK Export Finance (UKEF) has been granted an extra £10bn of capacity to support UK businesses selling overseas.
According to a press statement, this brings the total cap on its financial exposure to £60bn and adds extra capacity to the agency’s work supporting UK exporters.
UKEF CEO Tim Reid said:
“This is fantastic news for the UK companies that we are here to support. It means we can help more British businesses export and will enable us to support more jobs and help to fuel growth.”
Renewed climate focus
UKEF says it provided £7.4bn in financing in the 2021-22 financial year, which supported 72,000 jobs in the UK.
The government credit agency also states that, as part of its renewed focus on combatting climate change, the additional capability will help it focus on building long-term, sustainable growth.
Last year, UKEF was named the world’s best agency for sustainable finance.
Benchmark
According to a recently released report, the agency has maintained its product availability for the 9th straight year.
In its 13th annual Benchmarking Report of UKEF, the British Exporters Association (BExA) gave the agency a 9 out of 10 rating, scoring the agency on their range and quality of products made available to exporters.
According to the report, only foreign exchange risk cover – a mechanism to protect companies against losses caused by currency fluctuations – is currently unavailable.
BExA noted that the UKEF’s policy wording for short-term insurance could be updated, and urged “simplification and digitisation” to help streamline the application process.
High premiums
According to Global Trade Review, the high premiums charged by the government agency are harming the UK’s export opportunities with BExA stating that “little progress” had been seen of late.
UKEF’s pricing structure is considerably higher than those of its European rivals, which is reportedly pushing exporting companies to seek products of competing agencies.
However, UKEF is expected to launch a policy to help address this issue later this year.
