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Our Supplier Credit Facility has been partially replaced by the Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee. The Supplier Credit Facility currently only supports Bills and Notes facilities.

Supplier Credit Bills and Notes Facility

Covers payments due under bills of exchange, or promissory notes, purchased by a financial institution from a UK exporter. The exporter will have received them in payment for capital goods, services and/or intangibles supplied to an overseas buyer.

Supplier Credit Loan Facility

The Supplier Credit Loan Facility was replaced by the Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee on 23 February 2021. Please see our Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee page for more information.

Benefits

The benefits of our Supplier Credit Bills and Notes Facility include:

• the exporter is paid as soon as the goods have been shipped and/or services performed
• the buyer or borrower has time to pay over a number of years and can borrow at fixed or floating rates
• the financial institution receives a guarantee from us for the amounts due under the bills of exchange or promissory notes

Eligibility criteria

The transaction must satisfy UKEFs eligibility criteria, which includes the requirements that:

• the exporter must be carrying on business in the UK
• the financial institution must be acceptable to us

All transactions supported by UKEF must satisfy:

• our foreign content policy
• our anti-bribery and corruption and environmental, social and human rights due diligence processes

The transaction may not be supported if there are sanctions imposed on the country of the buyer or borrower.

The maximum amount that can be made available under the facility is 85% of the contract value. A minimum of 15% of the contract value must be paid directly to the exporter by the buyer before the facility starts to be repaid.

The period for payment under the facility is typically 2 to 5 years. It can be shorter or longer depending on the sector and transaction requirements.

Check our cover indicators to find out what cover is available for the country or territory you want to do business in.

How to apply

Our Supplier Credit Bills and Notes Facility can be accessed directly through UKEF or via some financial institutions.

Find out which financial institutions can administer the facility.

Our application forms are also available if you are ready to make an application.

Application Forms

Check our country cover position, and make an application.

• Supplier Credit application form (PDF, 1.83 MB)
• supplemental export insurance policy application form (PDF, 253 KB)
• Supplier Credit standard terms and conditions (ODT, 47.2 KB)

Financial institutions who take part in the Supplier Credit Facility

We issue master guarantee agreements (MGAs) to financial institutions who take part in the Supplier Credit Facility, which now only covers Supplier Credit Bills and Notes for applications after the 23rd February 2021.

The MGA is only an umbrella document, which sets out the principal terms and conditions on which we will guarantee payment to financial institutions that make finance available using the facility.

We set out the terms and conditions of cover for individual transactions when making an offer of support for a particular export contract. Once the financial institution has accepted an offer of cover, it is able to purchase negotiable instruments from you knowing that we will cover them under the master guarantee agreement.

The following financial institutions are able to use the Supplier Credit Financing Facility:

More information

• Read our guide for applicants on business processes and factors, to find out how we make decisions on applications
• Read our position on Financial Crime Compliance

Additional note

In accordance with the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, the maximum amount that can be made available under the facility is normally 85% of the export contract value. However, for a temporary period this has been increased to 95% of the contract value for some transactions for sovereign and public borrowers with a Ministry of Finance or Central Bank guarantee.

A minimum of 5% of the contract value must be paid directly to the supplier by the buyer before the facility starts to be repaid. Transactions may benefit from the temporary changes provided that applications are received between 5 November 2021 and 4 November 2023, and the date of the final commitment is within 18 months of the end of the validity period, ie by 4 May 2025.

The temporary change is applicable for exports to all countries except High Income OECD countries. It does not apply to transactions following the Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU) or Ship Sector Understanding (SSU).