Postexportfinanciering

Post-exportfinanciering is a form of financing that provides liquidity to exporters after goods or services have been delivered but before payment from the buyer is received. It is used to bridge the gap between shipment and settlement, covering working capital, production costs, and other order-related expenses. This type of financing can enable exporters to offer longer payment terms to foreign buyers while maintaining cash flow.

The main instruments are factoring and forfaiting. Factoring involves selling receivables to a financier, which may advance a substantial portion of the invoice and may handle collection, sometimes with recourse to the exporter. Forfaiting consists of selling medium- to long-term export receivables to a bank or forfaiter on a non-recourse basis, typically transferring the risk of default to the financier. Other structures may include supplier credit lines or post-export financing facilities secured by export receivables and related contracts.

Participants in post-exportfinanciering include exporters, commercial banks, specialized lending houses, and export credit agencies or insurers that help mitigate political or commercial risks. Risk management tools commonly used with these facilities include credit insurance, ECA guarantees, currency hedging, and collateral against receivables. The choice of instrument and risk allocation (recourse or non-recourse) depends on the buyer’s creditworthiness, the terms of payment, and the exporter’s needs.

Relation to broader export finance: post-exportfinanciering complements pre-export financing by providing liquidity after shipment. It is often used by small and medium-sized enterprises to compete internationally, with costs reflecting credit risk, term length, currency exposure, and the specific structure chosen.