Ex-Im Bank Reduces Risk

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If an American small business can’t find some way to cover financial risks (e.g., getting paid), typically they won’t bid on the projects, and the buyer will purchase their goods from another nation. Sad but true.  Although that's where Ex-Im Bank comes in handy.

“We reduce the risks,” [Fred] Hochberg [president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States] told a packed room of Inland business leaders Monday [10/24/16]. “If you sell goods abroad you have to think about the financial risks.”

Ex-Im Bank was responsible for more than 52,000 American jobs in 2015.

Read more:  Ex-Im chair touts global trade to Inland leaders

For Those Who Love Exports: Exim Bank is Back in the Global Game!

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President Obama signed EXIM Bank’s reauthorization into law on Friday, December 4, 2015, which means EXIM is back in the global game.

Beginning today [12/4/15], EXIM will be able to restart the work needed to meet its mission of supporting American jobs and equipping American businesses with the tools necessary to compete for global sales. Importantly, the Bank secured a long-term reauthorization that will be in effect until September 30, 2019.

Learn more:  EXIM Bank Reauthorization Information

Have a question?  Go here.  Want to get started?  Go here.

Guess Who's a Powerhouse Among South American Economies?

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Argentina? Bolivia? Chile? Guess again. Try Brazil. And The Export-Import Bank of the United States is putting some money there to promote exports. Exim Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg says:

“I chose Brazil as my first international destination for good reason: Brazil is a powerhouse among South American economies and offers tremendous opportunities for U.S. exporters in many sectors. I want Brazilians to know that Ex-Im Bank has the will and the capacity to finance their purchases of U.S. equipment, products and services."

Read all about it here.

Small Business Advocate Could Head Ex-Im Bank

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Fred Hochberg, a longtime advocate of small business, could head Ex-Im Bank. Ex-Im Bank mission: To finance sales that the private sector considers too risky to fund on its own. Hochberg currently is dean of Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

Hochberg has a diverse business background:

• Held top positions at SBA (under Clinton administration).
• Was in direct sales industry positions.
• Spent bulk of his business career at Lillian Vernon Corporation, leading the transition from private enterprise to publicly traded company (president from 1989-1993). It appears he is the son of Lillian Vernon.

Ex-Im Bank has made an effort to emphasize lending to smaller companies -- $3.2 billion of its $14.4 loan authorizations last fiscal year went to finance exports by small firms.

"The SBA must assert itself more aggressively in the area of procurement to ensure that small businesses are receiving a greater share of federal contracts," he wrote in a 2006 op-ed in Inc. magazine.

Read the entire article here.