SYRACUSE — Central New York could be importing a new source of financing for small and medium companies after a federal official’s recent visit. Wanda Felton, the vice chair and first vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, spent the day in Syracuse Oct. 26 to meet with area businesses. Felton, who […]
SYRACUSE — Central New York could be importing a new source of financing for small and medium companies after a federal official’s recent visit.
Wanda Felton, the vice chair and first vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, spent the day in Syracuse Oct. 26 to meet with area businesses. Felton, who gave the keynote speech in April at CenterState CEO’s annual meeting, returned to the area to build relationships with companies that want to export or boost their exporting.
“We had the opportunity to go around and visit some people,” Felton says. “It’s to talk with companies about what they need and to give them more insight into how Ex-Im Bank can help them with their financing needs.”
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, also known as Ex-Im Bank, is the country’s official export credit agency. It’s tasked with helping to finance the exports of U.S. goods and services to international markets. The bank provides working-capital guarantees, export credit insurance, loan guarantees, and direct loans.
It backed more than $119.2 million in disbursements to seven businesses in New York’s 25th Congressional District, which includes Syracuse and Onondaga County, between 2007 and 2012. Those disbursements supported more than $138.7 million in export sales, according to the bank’s website.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity here,” Felton says. “You’ve got a very engaged business community, and it’s seen in a CenterState CEO membership that looks to be working very hard to promote exports. That’s very important.”
Felton’s Syracuse stop comes as Ex-Im Bank pushes to increase its visibility among small and mid-sized businesses. The institution has drawn the nickname “Boeing’s bank” because of high-profile financing it has provided for large corporations like the aerospace company, but the bank is working hard to reach smaller firms, Felton says.
Ex-Im Bank tallied $6 billion in small-business volume in the 2011 fiscal year. It is attempting to double its annual small-business volume to $9 billion between the 2010 and 2014 fiscal years. It’s also trying to add 5,000 small businesses to its portfolio in that time frame — the bank had added 1,839 toward that goal as of the beginning of August.
Felton met personally with representatives from three companies during her stop in Syracuse. She also sat down to lunch with the heads of about eight firms. And Ex-Im Bank’s Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions director, Thomas Cummings, met with two companies on Oct. 25, the day before her arrival.
The bank doesn’t generally close financing deals after a first meeting, according to Cummings.
“It’s really great if you can close something on your first visit, but in most cases it may take a repeat,” he says. “It can be a very long process. Sometimes, it can run from as little as 30 days up to a couple years before the close.”
Ex-Im officials discussed mostly credit insurance in their Friday visits, Cummings continues. He met with companies that were more interested in working capital the day before, he adds.
Central New York seems to be rich in the conditions needed for boosting exports, Cummings continues.
“What I found is that in the Syracuse as well as the Rochester area, so many companies and so many people are already familiar with exporting, far greater than you’ll find in most cases in the United States,” he says. “I think it came from a few large, major corporations that really brought exporting into view. I think there’s a much higher knowledge of trade in the Syracuse, Rochester area than there is on average across the country.”
The Ex-Im officials urged any business owner interested in working with the bank to contact Cummings or John Tracy of the U.S. Commercial Service’s Syracuse associate office by telephone. Cummings can be reached at (212) 809-2652. Tracy is available at (315) 453-4070.
The officials’ visit dovetails with Central New York’s participation in an effort to boost exporting, the Brookings Metropolitan Export Initiative, according to Kevin Schwab, CenterState CEO vice president for marketing and communications. And a question-and-answer session business leaders held with Felton when she visited Syracuse in the spring probably helped draw her back to the area, he adds.
“That’s really, I think, a testament to what our companies said,” Schwab says. “You don’t usually get that.”
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com