BUYER'S CREDIT INSURANCE SCHEMES

ECIO has always been aiming at providing the necessary tools for backing Greek exports. Under this scope, a new product is under development: Credit Insurance in the form of Buyer's Credit . In a Supplier's Form Insurance Scheme ECIO insures the Greek exporter directly, whereas in the Buyer's Credit Scheme ECIO insures the credit given by a Greek bank (or a foreign bank's branch in Greece) to the foreign importer so the latter will buy Greek products.

In Buyer's Credit Scheme, there are two sub-categories, depending on the credit receiver; in the case where the borrower is a Foreign State, the Greek bank grants the loan to the Central Bank or a first Class Commercial Bank. In the case of a privately owned importing company , the Greek bank grants the loan either directly to the foreign buyer or through an intermediate bank in his country.

The first case is known internationally as "Line of Credit" (Revolving Credit Facility) , while all agreements take place in a "Governmental Level". In this line of work ECIO has already acquired enough experience taking into account the signing of a Guarantee Contract with the National Bank of Greece, in the beginning of the 90's, providing $20 million dollars worth of Line Credit to Albania and the signing of Guarantee Contracts with both the National and Commercial Bank of Greece providing Lines of Credit to Romania, Georgia, Armenia and Moldavia.

The Buyer's Credit Scheme could be represented as follows:

Α/ The Exporter or the Bank pays the premium to ECIO Β/ The Buyer pays the Exporter the direct payments (e.g. down payment) C/ The bank pays disbursements from loan to the Exporter D/ The Buyer repays the loan to the Bank Ε/ ECIO reimburses the bank (if necessary)