General Export Facility

The General Export Facility (GEF) is a product offered by UK Export Finance (UKEF) that provides a guarantee to a business's bank, helping the bank offer trade finance facilities typically worth up to £25 million. UKEF guarantees up to 80% of the facility, with the business's lender retaining 20% of the credit risk. Unlike some other UKEF products, the facility does not need to be tied to a specific export contract, giving businesses more flexibility to release working capital, take on new orders, or develop exports generally. It can support cash facilities such as trade loans, as well as contingent obligation facilities such as bonding and letter-of-credit lines, with maximum repayment terms of up to five years. The GEF is designed primarily for smaller exporters; for corporate facilities exceeding £25 million, UKEF signposts businesses to its Export Development Guarantee instead. Applications are made by discussing requirements with a participating bank or via UKEF's contact form, and businesses still need to meet lender and UKEF eligibility criteria and be assessed as creditworthy; UKEF does not itself set a minimum business size.

Applicants must be UK exporters able to show that in any one of the last three financial years at least 20% of annual turnover came from export sales, or that in each of the last three financial years at least 5% of annual turnover came from export sales; participating banks can automatically apply the guarantee for applications meeting certain criteria.