Back by popular demand, this session allows ECAs from across the world to update exporters, lenders and borrowers on their latest products and innovations. We invite the panel to cross examine each other and the audience to ask probing questions on ECA responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, coverage, direct lending, national interest, pricing, ECA reinsurance, local content, the OECD Consensus, ‘shopping lines’, untied finance and sustainability

This panel will provide vital updates to export and project finance professionals in the region. Much has occurred since 2020 kicked off. Clients have called for greater flexibility from their home country ECAs to remain competitive and continue projects that have been put on hold. We will zoom into the differences between OECD and non-OECD bound ECAs levels of inventiveness and investments in technological innovation. How can those ECAs bound to the OECD consensus provide a more flexible product offering? Will the increase in ECA financing match that of the post-recession in 2008/09? That changes have been made to their product offerings? Are ECAs able to continue offering the longer tenors their competitors are unable to?

Export finance offers an exciting career path, albeit one that can be years in the making. In this session, we gather a mix of new recruits and seasoned pros to discuss their journeys through export finance, focusing on why this is a worthwhile career path:

• How did our senior panelists get started in their careers, and why were our newer recruits attracted to this financial niche? 
• The opportunity to travel has long been an exciting pull for some interested in export finance. How will the move away from international travel impact new recruits?
• How do we ensure that new hirees are fully onboarded and offered the same opportunities as those who started before the world of work changed beyond recognition?

Expo 2023 has the theme ‘Science, Innovation, Art and Creativity for Human Development. Creative Industries in Digital Convergence.’ Closer to home, export finance industry pundits are talking about using Covid-19 as a paradigm shift in ECA focus, with more projects being done in new technologies, telecoms/media, renewable energy, electric vehicles, storage/transmission/distribution of energy alongside collaborations with DFIs in healthcare, sanitation, water, education and social impact projects. How will these transactions differ from traditional ECA ones and how will they be structured? How much liquidity do they require? Will we see an increase in smaller ticket transactions and how can we make the product more suitable for these through standardised documentation and digitisation? Will we see a change in the role of commercial banks to a focus on structuring? While it is both prudent and exciting to look to the future, we also need to examine the present. Compared to current portfolios what percentage of total business do these new industries represent for ECAs and banks? Going forward when do we expect these industries to dominate ECA backed finance?