15 May 2012
MUSCAT - Nasir bin Issa al Ismaily, General Manager of the Export Credit Guarantee Agency of Oman (EGCA), attended the Credit Alliance regional meeting of Africa Middle-East and the Country Risk Conference, which was held in Casablanca, Morocco at the weekend. The forum was hosted by SMAEX - Export Credit Guarantee Agency of Morocco in coordination with the Credit Alliance Secretariat under the auspices of Coface of France.
Among the various topics were roundtable discussions by the partners/members for better services from the Credit Alliance Network, as well as continuous exchange of valuable information among members. Separate workshops were also held including the major contribution of Credit Alliance members' network in credit risk assessment in the region as well as the increasing role of credit insurance in facilitating SME funding in cooperation with commercial banks.
Addressing the session, Al Ismaily highlighted the experiences of ECGA of Oman in credit risks mitigation of buyers as well as financing facilities for credit insured exporters through export bills discounting under post shipment financing as well as pre-shipment.
He described the Export Credit Insurance Policy of ECGA of Oman as very useful for SMEs, as it fills the security gap needed by banks. Considering one of the major constraints facing SMEs is financing and the need for secured collateral by credit insurance, the Agency can assist SMEs to avail export finance facilities through the banks while providing protection to them against the risks of non-payments by their buyers through the assignment of the export credit policy to them, he said.
The meeting was preceded by a Country Risk Conference in view of the geo-political situation arising from the Arab Spring as well as the contagion effects from the European Sovereign Debt Crisis that has affected business as the level of both commercial and non-commercial risks have significantly increased. The incidence of businesses delinquencies in a number of euro zone countries has risen and wide spread now. Therefore it is important for exporters to continuously insure their exports with ECAs.
It was affirmed that the role ECAs played in the MENA Region are now even more crucial in supporting their national exports through risks mitigation and protection provided by credit insurance.
The panel discussion included major multinational companies utilizing the services of credit insurance by ECAs in the Region then followed which provided insights from clients perspective as it was viewed by them that by insuring their credit sales, this allows opportunity to increase their sales volume significantly instead of selling on cash basis.
The meeting and the conference was attended by a number Regional ECAs. These included ECAs from Oman, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria, South Africa, etc as well as credit information and debt collection agencies from many other countries and the Secretariat from Coface.
The ECGA of Oman was one of the earliest and most active members joining Credit Alliance in 1996. The first Regional Meeting of the Credit Alliance was actually held in Muscat in 2001. The Agency of Oman through the years introduced many of the ECAs in the MENA Region to the Alliance which has now grown to 97 countries worldwide. The ECGA of Oman has always retained its strategic relationship with the Alliance and with its respective members, Al Ismaili stated.
MUSCAT - Nasir bin Issa al Ismaily, General Manager of the Export Credit Guarantee Agency of Oman (EGCA), attended the Credit Alliance regional meeting of Africa Middle-East and the Country Risk Conference, which was held in Casablanca, Morocco at the weekend. The forum was hosted by SMAEX - Export Credit Guarantee Agency of Morocco in coordination with the Credit Alliance Secretariat under the auspices of Coface of France.
Among the various topics were roundtable discussions by the partners/members for better services from the Credit Alliance Network, as well as continuous exchange of valuable information among members. Separate workshops were also held including the major contribution of Credit Alliance members' network in credit risk assessment in the region as well as the increasing role of credit insurance in facilitating SME funding in cooperation with commercial banks.
Addressing the session, Al Ismaily highlighted the experiences of ECGA of Oman in credit risks mitigation of buyers as well as financing facilities for credit insured exporters through export bills discounting under post shipment financing as well as pre-shipment.
He described the Export Credit Insurance Policy of ECGA of Oman as very useful for SMEs, as it fills the security gap needed by banks. Considering one of the major constraints facing SMEs is financing and the need for secured collateral by credit insurance, the Agency can assist SMEs to avail export finance facilities through the banks while providing protection to them against the risks of non-payments by their buyers through the assignment of the export credit policy to them, he said.
The meeting was preceded by a Country Risk Conference in view of the geo-political situation arising from the Arab Spring as well as the contagion effects from the European Sovereign Debt Crisis that has affected business as the level of both commercial and non-commercial risks have significantly increased. The incidence of businesses delinquencies in a number of euro zone countries has risen and wide spread now. Therefore it is important for exporters to continuously insure their exports with ECAs.
It was affirmed that the role ECAs played in the MENA Region are now even more crucial in supporting their national exports through risks mitigation and protection provided by credit insurance.
The panel discussion included major multinational companies utilizing the services of credit insurance by ECAs in the Region then followed which provided insights from clients perspective as it was viewed by them that by insuring their credit sales, this allows opportunity to increase their sales volume significantly instead of selling on cash basis.
The meeting and the conference was attended by a number Regional ECAs. These included ECAs from Oman, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria, South Africa, etc as well as credit information and debt collection agencies from many other countries and the Secretariat from Coface.
The ECGA of Oman was one of the earliest and most active members joining Credit Alliance in 1996. The first Regional Meeting of the Credit Alliance was actually held in Muscat in 2001. The Agency of Oman through the years introduced many of the ECAs in the MENA Region to the Alliance which has now grown to 97 countries worldwide. The ECGA of Oman has always retained its strategic relationship with the Alliance and with its respective members, Al Ismaili stated.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
