Bradesco expects to have lent over US$9bn to Brazilian exporters by the end of 2007, versus US$5.3bn one year previously, predicts Jos Guilherme Lembi de Faria, international area director at Bradesco.

 

Shorter-term ACC (adiantamento sobre contrato de cmbio) and ACE (adiantamento sobre cambiais entregues) lines account for 50% of the portfolio. Bradesco’s BNDES-funded loans are also important, Lembi remarks, and equated US$1.3bn in April 2007.

 

Pre-export financing can have up to 10-year tenors, while in 2004 those wouldn’t exceed six years, he notes. Taxes levied specifically on import financing transactions prevent this type of lending from advancing, he says. Per-country exposure is similar to the profile of Brazilian exports, Lembi says. Brazil’s main export markets in 2006 were the United States, Argentina and China.

 

Since 2005, tenors have increased, pricing has fallen and guarantees have become less rigid, he adds. As a result, the trend is to focus increasingly on small and medium-sized companies, says Lembi, as multiple lending transactions will help Bradesco make up for a shortfall in margins.