News

Trade Acceptance Group, Ltd., a trade finance company based in Edina, Minnesota, was named the Small Business Broker of the Year by the Export-Import Bank of the United States at the Bank's annual conference in Washington, D.C. today. The six-year-old company had more than 60 small business export insurance policies and 12 applications pending as of fiscal year 2001.

Trade Acceptance Group actively promotes insurance to small business exporters, and its two principals, Curtis L. Hanson and Leslie A. Bergland, frequently speak at seminars, trade groups, and other forums about Ex-Im Bank services and other export-support initiatives. The suburban Minneapolis company has been particularly successful in helping small businesses gain access to Ex-Im Bank's working capital guarantee program and arranging medium-term loans for foreign buyers of capital equipment.

We saw a need in the market to provide services for small businesses from export credit insurance to working capital, and obviously Ex-Im Bank has the best programs that fit the niche of small businesses, Ms. Bergland said. We also targeted small, community banks, which tend to serve smaller businesses, and we've grown to working with regional banks and with companies of all sizes. Ex-Im Bank's programs are central to serving small businesses, because Ex-Im Bank's products provide the most benefits to the exporter as well their lender.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets, by providing loans, guarantees and export credit insurance. In fiscal year 2001, Ex-Im Bank authorized financing to support $12.5 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.