FY 2011 Insurance Broker Review

Our FY 2011 figures released in October show that Ex-Im authorized more than $32 billion, a record year. FY 2011 was also a strong year for our insurance portfolio and our insurance brokers. Over 90% of our more than 2800 insurance policies were brokered by more than 80 different insurance brokers. Thank you all for your continued support and promotion of Ex-Im Bank's export credit insurance.

Since the launch of Express Insurance at our annual conference in March, through to the end of FY 2011 on September 30, 2011, we issued 112 Express policies accounting for over $50 million in authorizations for Ex-Im Bank. 93% of these policies were brokered by 32 different brokers. The top Express brokers, by number of policies issued in FY 2011, were Global Business Solutions, Trade Acceptance Group, ARI Global, CFS International, and Meridian Finance Group.

Insurance brokers continued to be a key partner in supporting small business exporters. Our top small business brokers for FY 2011, ranked by small business authorizations excluding lender and medium-term policies, were Trade Acceptance Group, Altus Multinational, International Risk Consultants, Meridian Finance Group, and Export Insurance Services. Based on preliminary figures, these brokers accounted for over $800 million in small business authorizations!

Ex-Im Online Training Webinar Series

We have had great attendance at our first two broker training webinars on "Ex-Im Online." Please look out for invitations to future training webinars. If you are unable to attend, you can view replays of the webinars on the broker portal.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see covered in future Ex-Im Online training webinars, please contact Amy Shinkman (amy.shinkman@exim.gov, 202.565.3413).

Financial Institution Buyer Credit Program Changes

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve product performance across all of our business lines, Ex-Im Bank will be releasing a new premium rate schedule and modifications to the underwriting guidelines for the Financial Institution Buyer Credit (FIBC) Policy. A letter outlining these changes was e-mailed to brokers on November 17 and is also available on our website.

Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses

Just a reminder to take the time to investigate and accurately complete the questions on insurance applications (both in Ex-Im Online and hard copy versions) which ask if the exporter is minority- or women-owned. Serving these businesses are two important congressional mandates of Ex-Im Bank, so we want to be sure we have the right data. Thank you for your cooperation!

Ex-Im Online Primary Contact

Separate from the individual who receives the automatically-generated system emails from Ex-Im Online, there is a designation called Primary Contact available to all registered broker companies in Ex-Im Online. Only this individual has a link called "Registered Users" on the lower right section of their landing page and can view all the individuals registered to use Ex-Im Online from their broker company. This individual also receives emails when new users from their broker company are added. Please contact Amy or Shontelle Bragg (202.565.3710, shontelle.bragg@exim.gov) if you are unsure if your company has a Primary Contact associated with it; or if you would like to change who is designated as the Primary Contact.

Finally, please remember that only Amy and Shontelle can add or delete individual broker users on Ex-Im Online -- this cannot be done outside Ex-Im Bank. Please let us know if changes are required -- it is your responsibility to let us know when an employee has left as their userid needs to be disabled. Please also let us know if you would like us to grant or remove access to commission statements by individual users.

September Ex-Im Online Updates

All Ex-Im brokers should have received an email about the recent Ex-Im Online updates which occurred in late September (if you didn't, please send your email address to Shontelle and Amy). These updates are summarized again below. The next updates will be in mid-December, and we will provide a summary of these closer to the time.

1) Users Can Search the Ex-Im database when Adding a New Buyer in Shipment Reporting or New Applications

This allows brokers and exporters to "Search All Exim" when adding a new buyer -- the country and at least 3 letters of the name are required before any results are returned. The Legal Name as well as Trade Style are visible in the search results to help you select the correct buyer. After you find the correct entity and click on Add New Buyer, then this buyer will appear on your list of buyers in shipment reporting.

2) Additional Information on Policy/Guarantee Details

The Policy/Guarantee search results have an additional column added for Assigned RM (Relationship Manager), while the Policy Details page now displays the SBCL (Special Buyer Credit Limit) period (date range) rather than just the policy expiry date. These additions came about due to broker feedback.

3) Express Application limited to 5 buyers

Please note that additional buyers can be added after the policy is issued, but Express applications now allow for only 5 buyers to be included. Remember that Express is only an option for exporters with 10 or fewer export credit buyers (excluding Canadian buyers and those on letters of credit, cash, or sight payments).

4) Additional Multibuyer endorsements added

Four endorsements previously only available as free text endorsements have been converted to standard endorsements: Aircraft Parts Core Exchange Agreement endorsement, Delete Non-Acceptance Coverage and Stop Shipment endorsement, Secured Terms - Stop Shipment endorsement, and Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Exporter endorsement.

5) Shipment Reporting Deadlines

The system no longer allows you to submit a shipment report more than 120 days after the shipment report deadline. For example, March shipments, due to be reported by the end of April, cannot be entered more than 120 days after April 30. In addition, Ex-Im Online will not allow you to submit a shipment 120 days after policy expiration or cancellation. Previously, you had only 90 days from the policy expiration date and only 45 days from policy cancellation date.

Also, Ex-Im Online will no longer allow one "freebie" late shipment report per policy period. All late shipment reports are routed to the Relationship Manager for approval/rejection. We may require additional information from the insured if the transactions reported late may already be in default.

These shipment report rules apply to all insurance policy types, including medium-term transactions.