Ex-Im Bank Announces 2,000th New Small Business Customer Since Launching Global Access for Small Business Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today announced that National Recycling Inc. of Milwaukee, Wis. is the 2,000th small business to join the list of first-time users of the Bank's export finance products since launching the Global Access for Small Business (Global Access) program. The company reprocesses plastic, metal, cardboard, and paper scrap for industrial reuse into new products.
Global Access, which was launched in January 2011, was created to support President Obama's National Export Initiative (NEI) and its goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015. In addition to bringing 5,000 more small businesses into the Ex-Im Bank portfolio, it aims to approve at least $30 billion in small-business transactions during the NEI's five-year period. To reach these benchmarks, Ex-Im Bank introduced new financing and insurance products, such as Global Credit Express and Express Insurance. National Recycling Inc., brokered by Meridian Finance Group, selected the Express Insurance product.
In order to compete globally, U.S. companies have to look outside our borders for new customers, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. American workers are second to none, and Ex-Im Bank remains committed to ensuring that small businesses like National Recycling Inc. are successfully exporting.
Ex-Im Bank gave our company the confidence to pursue foreign buyers, said Dave Doern, president of National Recycling Inc. With the Bank's support, we have established relationships with new and potential customers. This has allowed the company to expand our sales efforts internationally.
Ex-Im Bank has hosted more than 40 Global Access forums across the country that have attracted thousands of small business owners. In addition, the Bank has sponsored monthly webinars for hundreds of exporters that feature various financing products.
Global Access Partners include; U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Department of Commerce (U.S. Commercial Service), The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), FedEx, Wall Street Journal, PNC Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Bank, and HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
About Ex-Im Bank
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five years (from Fiscal Year 2008), Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.6 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.
Ex-Im Bank approved $35.8 billion in total authorizations in FY 2012 - an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6.1 billion directly supporting small-business export sales - also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $50 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 255,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.