Financing of exports Working capital or export capital?

With export financing you can make a distinction between working capital and export capital. Here the two forms are briefly explained.

Working capital

Working capital comes from a long-term credit, which is used to produce, purchase or develop the product or service. The costs for developing new markets (participation in fairs, promotion, etc.) are also often covered by this form of financing. This happens if the bank is willing to pre-finance these costs.

Export capital

Export capital is mainly used to execute the export orders. These are the costs for preparing the product for export, shipping and possibly the costs for assembly and instruction at the customer. Export capital is often borrowed per order or at most for a series of orders.

Factoring

An alternative is factoring. The financing of exports is seen as an advance on the debtor portfolio. Normally, financing amounts to about 80 to 90 percent of the value of outstanding invoices. In this way, factoring is a fast and flexible form of financing

Directly to the bank

If your own bank is hesitant about an export credit, you can agree that your customers pay directly to your bank. The bank repays your loan with the payments and deposits the surplus on your current account. You can always finance your export per order or series of orders.

The right bank

Every entrepreneur knows that a lasting relationship with his house bank is very important. But exporting requires extra expertise and, above all, an international network. Does your bank have that knowledge in-house? Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is your bank too big or too small for your plans?
  • How do the rates for foreign transactions compare to other banks?
  • Does your bank have branches or partners in your export region?
  • Does the bank also provide import credit to your customers?
  • What are the costs and conditions?
  • Does the bank help you obtain government support / subsidies?

Does the bank offer additional services, such as market and country knowledge, matching?