New EDC insurance product allows small Canadian companies to insure their foreign sales in minutes

OTTAWA, Jan. 13, 2015 /CNW/ - Export Development Canada (EDC) today introduced a new online version of its credit insurance product that will allow Canadian companies to insure their sales to US or foreign buyers in minutes.

Credit insurance allows small businesses to insure their sales to foreign buyers to protect them against the risk of not being paid.

EDC is the leading provider of financing and insurance for small Canadian companies that sell to customers outside of Canada.

"Canadian companies can now apply, receive a quote, accept and pay for their credit insurance, and do it all online" said Clive Witter, Senior Vice-President of Insurance, EDC. "Being mindful of the limited time that small business owners have in their busy lives, we designed an automated process that in most cases can be measured in minutes from start to finish, not hours or days."

Trade Protect is designed specifically for small businesses, covering sales to foreign buyers up to a value of CAD 350K. Canadian companies can choose to cover sales for payment terms of 90 or 180 days.

"What Trade Protect does is allow a small business that is selling outside of Canada to pre-arrange insurance on a potential buyer when a sales opportunity comes up," added Witter. "Trade Protect allows the Canadian company to sell to them with confidence even if the US or foreign buyer is unknown to them, and to do it in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

After 70 years in the international trade business, EDC has assessments on over 75,000 foreign buyers and access to information on millions more through our established networks.  

Trade Protect does more than safeguard the exporting company against risk of non-payment by their foreign buyers. By having a sale insured, it may also help their bank provide additional financing to the company because the payment is protected.

The product can also allow the Canadian seller to be more competitive by offering more flexible payment terms than their competitors, which can often be an advantage in many industries.

In the case where the payment is not received by the foreign buyer, EDC will pay the Canadian exporter 90 per cent of the invoice value and then seek payment directly from the foreign buyer. If EDC recovers the payment, it pays out the final 10 per cent back to the Canadian company.

Click here for more information about Trade Protect.

About EDC

EDC is Canada's trade finance agency, providing financing and insurance solutions locally and around the world to help Canadian companies of any size respond to international business opportunities. As a profitable Crown corporation that operates on commercial principles, EDC works together with private- and public-sector financial institutions to create greater capacity for Canadian companies to engage in trade and investment.

For more information about how EDC can help your company, visit www.edc.ca.

SOURCE Export Development Canada

Related Links

http://www.edc.ca