European ECAS expand protection to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus

(Reuters, London, 3 April 2020) Britain's UKEF  is expanding the scope of its export insurance policy to cover exporters against the risk of non-payment if customers become insolvent, Other European states [although the UK is no longer a member of the EU] are also giving guarantees to credit insurers in an effort to keep coronavirus-hit companies afloat, as some cut cover for trade involving bloc members such as Italy and Spain, UK Export Finance, a government department, on Friday said it has expanded the policy to cover transactions with the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States. In Spain, as part of a package of measures approved on March 18 to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus, the government increased the insurance cover provided by its export credit agency CESCE adding two 1 billion euro credit lines, for unlisted corporates and small businesses with large levels of exports.  In France, the finance ministry said credit insurers had vowed not to cut or curtail cover in return for a reinsurance backstop worth up to 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion), to be set up by the end of the week. It also announced 2 billion euros in short-term aid as part of a package to help French exporters with credit insurance. In Germany, Reuters reported this week that the government and the country’s credit insurance industry have agreed to help to maintain insurance cover for trade, with the government guaranteeing up to 30 billion euros for the commercial credit insurance industry.