UK Export Finance has today launched the General Export Facility (GEF), a new flexible export guarantee scheme that can be used by firms to help cover costs linked to exporting and enable them to scale up their business operations.
It allows UKEF to provide a partial guarantee to lenders of up to 80% of the credit risk on cash facilities on commercial loans under £25 million and supports a range of trade finance products.
To make it quicker and easier for businesses to access UKEF support , GEF will, at first, be delivered through the country’s leading high street lenders on a delegated basis, so that in many instances a guarantee can be granted automatically drastically reducing any waiting time.
If you would like more information about GEF then please visit our product page on our website or contact us directly.”
The General Export Facility GOV.UK page has more information regarding the product and how to get in touch with the team.
Please also find some a summary of the rationale for UKEF commercial support, such as with GEF (General Export Facility) guarantee:
- GEF has been designed to align with the appropriate international rules and is not a subsidy. The parameters of GEF were developed in consultation with the BEIS state aid team and are common to the guarantee programmes that UKEF has been running since 2011.
- GEF has been designed around the safe harbour conditions in the Commission Notice on state aid in the form of guarantees which is an element of the EU state aid framework.
- UKEF requires risk and recoveries sharing with the banks, limiting guarantees to 80% of the amount outstanding. Pricing is set on a commercial basis, with income shared with the banks on the basis of proportion guaranteed. Guarantees are provided for a fixed term and for a set amount. Under GEF, all UK obligors must pass the financial difficulty test proscribed under the EU state aid regime.
- UKEF relies on the market economy operator approach, whereby support is provided as if UKEF was a commercial participant.
- The EU state aid framework interprets the WTO rules regarding subsidies for exports, and the GEF guarantee should only create increase the capacity for finance without changing other terms.
