FAQ

• What sort of subsidies and incentives does ECS offer?
  ECS consists of two key components:
  1. Subsidy of Insurance Premiums
  2. Limit Excess Facility
  

• What is the Subsidy of Insurance Premiums?
  For Singapore-based companies with a group annual turnover of less than S$80m, IE Singapore will subsidise 50% of insurance premiums up to S$100,000 for policies through the Export Coverage Scheme with Singapore-registered credit insurers.
  The maximum amount of premium subsidy that can be provided is S$100,000 (per company).

• What is the Limit Excess Facility?
  The Limit Excess Facility component provides higher limits of insurance above what can be provided by Singapore-registered credit insurers.
  Where the maximum coverage required by a company is beyond that of the insurers, IE Singapore together with Limit Excess insurers are looking at providing higher limits of insurance.

• What is Buyer Default Insurance?
  Buyer Default Insurance is another name for Trade Credit Insurance. It acts and responds in the same manner as a Trade Credit Insurance.

• Are there any restrictive cover on countries?
  There are countries where coverage will be highly restrictive, namely:
  Armenia, Belarus, Belize, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Formerly Zaire), Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Korea (North), Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malawi, Mauritania, Moldova, Montenegro, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia

• Would there be any countries which will be totally excluded from cover?
  Yes there are. The countries excluded are as follows:
  Afghanistan, Cote D'Ivoire, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Liberia and Zimbabwe

• What is Aon’s role in ECS?
  Aon Singapore is the IE Singapore appointed programme manager for ECS.
  For companies to access the benefits of the Scheme, they will need to send their applications through Aon Singapore.

• Can companies still be eligible for any of the subsidies or limit excess benefits outside ECS?
  Subsidy of Insurance Premiums and Limit Excess benefits can only be accessed via ECS. Any trade credit arrangements outside of ECS will not have access to these benefits.

• Who can qualify for ECS?

  • For the Subsidy of Insurance Premiums:
  • Singapore-based companies with a group turnover not exceeding S$80m and have at least 3 strategic business functions in Singapore.
  • Companies that will qualify for Limit Excess Facility must be:
  • Singapore-based companies and have at least 3 strategic business functions in Singapore.

• What are these strategic business functions defined as?
  They are defined as activities such as banking and finance, marketing and business planning, procurement/logistics, training and personal management, investment planning/coordination, research and development, technical support and manufacturing.

• Are there any guidelines for accepting your application for insurance to ECS, or will all eligible companies automatically obtain cover through the Scheme?
  All eligible companies accessing ECS will be required to complete both a proposal form and a declaration form, and will be assessed as per the respective insurer’s guidelines for accepting your application for insurance.

• When will ECS take effect?
  ECS will commence on the 1st of March, 2009
  

• How do we obtain the premium subsidy under ECS?
  As programme managers of ECS, Aon will administer the 50% subsidy to the insurer(s) on behalf of qualifying companies.