ECIC links up with 38 banks
Government-owned Export Credit Insurance Corp (ECIC) has linked up with 38 more banks to offer export financing to companies which have bought insurance policies with the corporation.
The group, including big players such as Bank of China Group, Citibank and HSBC, will use the ECIC insurance policies as a form of collateral, allowing them to offer export credits to exporters. No property collateral is required.
This follows last month's ECIC alliance with Wing Lung Bank and Dao Heng Bank providing similar services which many exporters welcomed.
'The latest co-operation between ourselves and the local banking sector greatly increases financing opportunities for exporters and will boost the confidence of the Hong Kong trading community,' ECIC commissioner Thomas Yiu Kei-chung said.
The alliance is part of the SAR Government's efforts to assist small players in securing bank loans, in a bid to stimulate economic recovery.
Last Friday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a survey showing small companies could not get bank financing without property as collateral.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, in his Policy Address in October, urged banks not to rely on this factor but to look at business records and prospects.
Raymond Or Ching-fai, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, said the alliance would benefit all parties.
