SMEs in more than 90 countries

The financial crisis has had a major impact on the opportunities for SMEs to complete transactions and obtain risk cover. The need for collaborating with EKN has been high.

The number of applications to EKN for exports by SMEs increased during the year by 29% compared to 2008. The volume of offers increased to SEK 4.1 billion from SEK 2.6 billion, a 57% increase. The demand has been for exports in practically all industries – food, engineering, steel, paper, chemicals, technology etc. The offers were for transactions spread relatively evenly across 90 countries (76 countries in 2008), with an emphasis on transactions in Pakistan, Russia and China.

SMEs have been in dire need of EKN being involved and sharing the risks with the banks. The demand for counter-guarantees remains high, and the demand for working capital guarantees has increased strongly. Both counter-guarantees and working capital guarantees aim to facilitate the provision of capital for the companies by relieving the banks’ risks on the exporters.

The demand for letter of credit guarantees which also means sharing the risks of confirmed letters of credit with the banks increased by 44%. During the year, some SME transactions were reassessed at higher risks, resulting in higher provisions.

Ramnäs Bruk is one of the enterprises that are expanding internationally with EKN as their risk partner.

New clients and an initiative in Western Sweden

Our efforts to reach out to a greater number of SMEs have achieved results – every year in the last three years around 100 SMEs have become new clients. This was also the case in 2009, when 121 companies – 99 SMEs and 22 large ones – became clients of EKN.

These companies showed great interest in meeting EKN, obtaining information about guarantees, and discussing business opportunities. We have continued running our regional export seminars both under our own steam and jointly with other export-promoting organisations. We have also arranged a large number of client and bank meetings in various locations around Sweden.

In order to reach out more and more to the Swedish subsidiaries involved in exporting, we have been working closely with the Swedish Trade Council. The banks are also important partners in assisting Swedish companies to carry out more transactions – and safer transactions. EKN ran a training day to explain the opportunities available through EKN’s services.

In the autumn, we launched a special initiative in Western Sweden, where an EKN employee is now based locally in Gothenburg. The aim of this regional presence is to put more weight behind our market and customer support in the region, and thus increase the chances of the exporting companies doing more business abroad with the help of EKN guarantees. The regional presence makes it easier for us to visit more companies and banks and to establish wider contacts. The initiative will be evaluated in order to gather experience for any future initiatives in other regions.