Index for August 2011

Volume 10, Issue 9

  • (Bloomberg, Paris, 22 September 2011) EADS sought to assure investors that lenders and leasing companies aren’t retreating from the aircraft financing market, as the parent of Airbus SAS tumbled the most in five weeks... EADS dropped as much as 7.5 percent in Paris trading after Les Echos reported BNP Paribas (BNP) SA and Societe Generale (GLE) have stopped lending to aircraft purchasers because of difficulties in obtaining dollar refinancing. Societe Generale, France’s 3rd bank by assets, said Sept. 12 that it may reduce its business to help finance aircraft and ships... “French banks contribute 15-20 % maximum to financing commercial aircraft, and of that portion, a significant part is backed by export credit finance, an area where U.S. banks could easily step in” to fill the breach, the managing director of DVB Bank SE (DVB), amongst the biggest aircraft financiers in Europe, said in an interview today. [While the OECD has not published sectoral data for official export credits since their 12 January 2007 release of 2005 statistics, commercial aircraft finance was then a leading official export credit sector - 29% of ECA reported long-term credits and 37% of 717 reported projects.]

Volume 10, Issue 8

  • (Pittsburgh Business Times, 12 August 2011) The U.S. Export-Import Bank has set a record for loan authorizations, topping $24.5 billion with nearly two months to go in its fiscal year. The financing, which includes more than 2,500 transactions with small businesses, supported more than $31.5 billion in export sales and 213,000 jobs, according to Ex-Im Bank.
  • (The National, 24 August 2011, UAE) Investment and trade insurers are poised to resume offering insurance for businesses in Libya once fighting eases. Financing trade deals in Libya has become trickier since civil war first flared in February, with the country being blacklisted by many banks and export credit insurers. Global Witness cautions that transparency of financing for the new "regime(s)" will be crucial.
  • (OECD 30 August 2011, Paris) The September 2011 Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits [TAD/PG(2011)13] is now available. This version of the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits replaces the March 2011 version [TAD/PG(2011)4]; it includes all modifications agreed to the Arrangement, including its Annexes, and is effective as from 1 September 2011.
  • (Friends of the Earth Japan, 30 August 2011, Tokyo) On August 5th the Japanese government approved a cabinet decision continuing its policy of exporting nuclear power plants. The cabinet decision declared, “Importing countries are primarily responsible for assurance of the safety of nuclear power plants” and “If other countries desire to adopt Japanese nuclear power technology, bearing in mind recipient countries' wishes, we believe we should provide those with the highest safety standard in the world.” FoE Japan and other NGOs are circulating a petition urging the Government of Japan to abandon this policy, cancel existing projects and take the lead in a worldwide phase-out of nuclear power. OECD based ECAs offer more generous terms on government-backed credits in support of nuclear power equipment exports.