The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export-credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank is an independent, self-sustaining executive agency and a wholly owned U.S. government corporation.
The Bank’s mission is to support jobs in the United States by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services. The Bank provides competitive export financing and ensures a level playing field for U.S. exports in the global marketplace.
Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private-sector lenders but provides export-financing that fill gaps in trade financing. The Bank assumes credit and country risks that the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. It also helps to level the playing field for U.S. exporters by matching the financing that other governments provide to their exporters.
The Bank’s charter requires reasonable assurance of repayment for the transactions that it authorizes, and the Bank closely monitors credit and other risks in its portfolio.
More than 85 percent of Ex-Im Bank’s transactions in recent years have been made available for the direct benefit of U.S. small businesses.
Ex-Im Bank’s Board of Directors at the Bank’s annual conference in April 2012 in Washington, D.C. From left: Board Member Larry W. Walther, Vice Chair Wanda Felton, Board Member Patricia M. Loui, Board Member Sean Mulvaney and Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.
