Export-Import Bank of the United States

Insurance broker Bob Dockendorf of Rogers & Belding in El Paso brought Thigpin to Ex-Im Bank at the suggestion of Thigpin's lender, Bank of the West, also of El Paso. Dockendorf pointed out that Bank of the West would not have been able to extend financing to Thigpin without the payment protection offered by export credit insurance. As an Ex-Im Bank-affiliated brokerage, Rogers & Belding was able to help the company obtain the Ex-Im Bank small business insurance coverage best suited to its export financing needs.

In Texas, Ex-Im Bank has served 1,062 companies in 132 communities over the last five years, financing a total of $3.7 billion in exports and sustaining an estimated 52,983 jobs. Fifty-six percent of the transactions financed were on behalf of small businesses like Thigpin.

The Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to industrializing and developing markets all over the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. Nationally, Ex-Im Bank supported approximately $13 billion in U.S. exports in the 1998 fiscal year.