What makes a public financial institution effective
An international benchmark of more than 20 export credit agencies and EXIM banks in 22 countries – and what it means for an agency's mandate, governance and products.
The challenge
Geopolitical shifts, subsidy races and the green transition are changing what governments expect from public financial institutions. Yet export credit agencies differ widely in their mandates, governance models and product ranges – and so do their results: the top quartile of peers achieves several times the new commitments per staff member of the bottom quartile. An established export credit agency and its government wanted an evidence base for the next stage of their export credit policy: how mandates, products and results differ across agencies, and whether these differences are linked to the governance model.
Our work
Our experts benchmarked more than 20 export credit agencies and EXIM banks in 22 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. We combined 46 interviews and expert discussions, ten years of data on commitments, exposure, clients, claims and headcount, a survey of exporters and banks, and more than 500 strategies, annual reports and studies. Structured along our ECA benchmark model, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and qualitative content analysis rated the client against peers on 18 indicators. The evidence shows that governance matters: independent agencies are more likely to act proactively and innovate, and state ownership is associated with higher cost efficiency.
The impact
The agency and its ministries now share an evidence-based picture of where their export credit system stands internationally, indicator by indicator. Fourteen recommendations – a broader mandate, a proactive trade-creator approach, a timely decision on legal set-up and governance, a wider product range, a renewed climate leadership role and a step change in outreach to exporters, particularly SMEs – feed directly into discussions with ministries, budget and authorisation decisions and the agency's own strategy process.
