OPIC Issues Call for Proposals to U.S. Banks for Guaranteed Loan Facility for Small Businesses
April 8, 2013
(OPIC)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Overseas Private
Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S.
Government's development finance institution,
today announced a Call for Proposals for a new
and innovative loan guarantee program designed
to encourage U.S. banks to expand their
lending to U.S. small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) that have projects in
developing countries where OPIC does business.
The program’s principal goal is to make it
easier for American banks – from a risk and
capital reserve perspective – to do business in
emerging markets, by encouraging participating
banks to make loans to existing clients for
projects that would not otherwise receive
financing. At the same time, it will help U.S.
businesses with projects in developing
countries gain access to much-needed
financing.
Called the U.S. Bank Guaranteed Loan Facility,
the program will select qualified banks based
on a review of their financial performance and
interest in expanding lending to SMEs with
emerging-market projects. Selected banks will
underwrite loans based solely on their own
credit and risk-rating policies. OPIC will
ensure that credit-approved loans comply with
the agency’s investment policies, with regard
to effects on the U.S. economy, the
environment, and workers’ rights.
Chief among its innovations, the program will
enable selected banks to develop their own
portfolio of loans up to an agreed maximum
portfolio size, leaving it to them to determine
who receives loans, their structure and amount.
The amount guaranteed by OPIC will vary based
on the project country’s development status, as
determined by its gross national income per
capita.
The program has been designed to be
straightforward and cost-effective, with the
OPIC documentation, risk-sharing, origination
process and reporting substantially the same
for each participating bank.
Details of the solicitation can be found at: www.opic.gov/what-we-offer/usbank-call-proposals
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