Supplier credit

Supplier credit is credit extended by an exporter to a foreign buyer under an export contract, so the buyer pays over time while the supplier carries, assigns or refinances the receivable. An export credit agency may insure or guarantee that credit, or support a bank that purchases bills of exchange or promissory notes from the exporter. The commercial obligation remains rooted in the supplier-buyer contract rather than in a separate buyer loan arranged solely for the purchase.

Supplier credit on bank export finance desks

EF desks see supplier credit in two common shapes. First, the exporter grants deferred payment terms and buys export credit insurance against buyer default. Berne Union materials describe short-term credit insurance as usually taking the form of supplier credit insurance directly between the exporter and the foreign buyer, indemnifying insolvency or non-payment from commercial or political causes, the combination familiar from comprehensive cover. Second, a bank discounts or purchases the exporter's bills or notes under an ECA guarantee, paying the exporter up front and collecting from the buyer on schedule.

UK Export Finance's buyer guide describes supplier credit facilities in those two forms. One operates similarly to a buyer credit facility but is typically available for lower loan values of less than 5 million pounds. The other is a bills-and-notes facility: a bank buys the receivables from the exporter, underpinned by a UKEF guarantee, so the exporter is paid immediately while the bank is repaid by the buyer under the contract terms. UKEF states it can support up to 85% of the contract value and charges the buyer a fee for its guarantee.

Mechanics and OECD Arrangement framing

The OECD Arrangement applies to official support for export credits with repayment terms of two years or more, whether delivered as pure cover, official financing support, or a combination. Article 14 of the January 2026 text separates premium and other charges for insuring or guaranteeing supplier credits from interest itself, treating supplier credits alongside financial credits as recognised channels of official support.

Documentary practice matters for bank-held supplier credits. Bills-and-notes programmes use bills of exchange and promissory notes as the transferable debt claim the bank acquires from the exporter, with the underlying export credit guarantee or insurance policy determining how cleanly that claim can be funded.

Tenor splits the market. Berne Union short-term trade credit is typically under 12 months and merchandise- or commodity-focused. Medium- and long-term capital-goods cover often migrates to buyer credit structures involving banks, with tenors above 12 months and up to around 20 years in industry descriptions, though national programmes set their own product boundaries.

Boundary with buyer credit and forfaiting

Buyer credit places a loan with the buyer (or its borrower) so the exporter is paid from loan drawdowns. Supplier credit starts with exporter-granted terms and may later be refinanced, insured or sold. Forfaiting is a related without-recourse purchase of export receivables or negotiable instruments; ECA-backed bills-and-notes supplier credit is one institutional route to a similar cash outcome for the exporter, with official cover sitting behind the purchasing bank.