Export credit insurance
Export credit insurance is cover that indemnifies an exporter, or an insured lender, against loss from non-payment, contract frustration or specified political events on an export contract. Under the OECD Arrangement, export credit guarantee or insurance is pure cover: official support by way of guarantee or insurance only, without official financing support such as direct credit, refinancing or interest-rate support.
Export credit insurance use on bank EF desks
On bank desks, export credit insurance appears both as short-term open-account cover for exporters and as medium- or long-term insurance that can support bank funding of receivables or buyer credits. An export credit agency may issue the policy; private credit insurers issue parallel market policies. UK Export Finance's Export Insurance Policy (EXIP) is a government credit insurance policy for UK exporters when private-market cover is unavailable. UKEF states that the policy can cover up to 95% of potential losses on an export contract.
Insured perils under UKEF's published EXIP framing include buyer insolvency or failure to pay for goods or services delivered, early contract termination before shipment, and inability to perform because of political events such as new import restrictions or war. Cover may be structured as a single-contract policy or as a multiple-contract policy with one overseas buyer.
Institutional scope and eligibility
Arrangement official support for exports of goods and services with a repayment term of two years or more may take the form of guarantee or insurance (pure cover), official financing support, or a combination. UKEF eligibility for EXIP requires an established UK business base, an overseas buyer in a covered country, at least 20% of the export value coming from UK goods or services, and inability to obtain private export insurance. A Supplementary EXIP can sit alongside buyer-finance support so the exporter remains covered if that financing becomes unavailable.
Insurance versus guarantee and political risk products
In Arrangement vocabulary, guarantee and insurance are both pure cover. Market and national practice still distinguishes form: insurance typically indemnifies the insured under a policy; an export credit guarantee often pays a bank under a loan or bills facility. Comprehensive cover describes the breadth of commercial and political perils within a product, not the legal form. Standalone political risk insurance may cover a narrower political-peril set for equity or contractual exposures outside classic export-receivable insurance.