Global Trade Alert

On 18 May 2010, the Hungarian authorities notified to the Commission a measure to publicly support export credit insurance to supplement the insufficient cover capacity of the private credit insurers in the current financial and economic crisis.
 
The private insurance market in Hungary is dominated by three large international private credit insurance companies namely Euler Hermes, Atradius and Coface (90 percent of the market). Since the beginning of the crisis Hungarian companies have experienced serious difficulty in obtaining insurance cover from the private sector. In the current market conditions, private credit insurers have become more selective, often regardless of the individual creditworthiness of debtors. It has become increasingly difficult to maintain exposure to some countries (in some cases due to the downgrading of their sovereign rating) or sectors, in case of which the central scoring systems automatically exclude all debtors from the private cover.
 
The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term export-credit insurance coverage to exporters who are confronted with temporary unavailability of cover in the private market for financially sound transactions with buyers in certain countries as a result of the financial crisis. The scheme is open to export companies that exercise an economic activity in Hungary.
 
The scheme cannot exceed HUF 50 billion (i.e. approximately EUR 183 million) at any point in time during the application of the scheme.