KPAG International

KPAG is represented in several language versions, including English, Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish.

Note: Since internet addresses can change, we recommend accessing the current links via the firm's main website rather than relying on individual domain names, which may become outdated.

The online presence gives international clients direct access, in their own language, to KPAG's cross-border legal services.

The creditor risks that arise in connection with export transactions can be particularly high in the case of exports to politically unstable and economically weak countries: in addition to the usual transfer-stop risk, a country-specific political risk may also arise.

If these risks are not adequately covered, lucrative foreign business is sometimes forgone altogether – out of concern about an incalculable loss of receivables. The consequence can be a dampening of export-driven economic growth.

Export-oriented states therefore have a particular interest in employing suitable export-promotion instruments that protect domestic exporters as far as possible against export credit risks and preserve the competitiveness of the domestic export economy. For this purpose, both private and state credit insurance are used in practice.

Private-sector credit insurance generally offers less coverage than state schemes. In particular, coverage of economic risks for export transactions into economically unstable countries is regularly refused, or only accepted under strict conditions. Coverage of political country risks is often excluded from the outset for politically unstable countries.

• Note: the following overview of the German scheme has been kept deliberately brief and is provided only for comparison; the practical focus for Greek exporters is Question 7 below. In Germany, state export credit guarantees are administered on behalf of the Federal Government by Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft (part of the Allianz Trade group since 2021) together with PwC, which is how the guarantees came to be known colloquially as “Hermes cover.” Cover is granted either as an export guarantee bond, where the foreign buyer is a sovereign or public-law entity, or as an export guarantee, where the buyer is a private party (the latter also covering the buyer's insolvency risk). A range of standard products exists for different transaction types and terms — including whole-turnover and single-transaction cover, supplier and buyer credit cover, manufacturing-risk cover, and cover for construction, leasing, and project-finance transactions — addressing both political risks (such as war, transfer restrictions, or expropriation) and economic risks (such as non-payment or insolvency). Premiums follow the OECD Consensus framework agreed by the export credit agencies (ECAs) of OECD member states and depend on the buyer country's risk category and the term of cover.

Yes. Germany's “Hermesdeckungen” are a purely German support instrument and are not directly accessible to Greek exporters. In Greece, the equivalent function is performed by the Export Credit Insurance Organisation (Οργανισμός Ασφάλισης Εξαγωγικών Πιστώσεων, ΟΑΕΠ), which, following a 2022 realignment, also operates under the name Export Credit Greece (ECG) and is organizationally part of the corporate group of the Hellenic Development Bank (Ελληνική Αναπτυξιακή Τράπεζα). In coordination with the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy, ΟΑΕΠ/ECG offers Greek exporters state-backed cover for short-, medium-, and long-term export receivables against commercial and political risks, including instruments for pre-financing export transactions (e.g. “Exostrefeia”). A Greek company that exports should approach ΟΑΕΠ/ECG directly for these purposes, rather than the German Euler Hermes AG or Allianz Trade. Exporters based in other countries should likewise check whether their own state maintains a comparable export credit agency, since most OECD member states do.