Bank of Boston Aims To Help Boost Exports Of New England Firms

Confronted with slow growth in exports from New England relative to other regions, Bank of Boston Corp. has launched a major program to help local manufacturers increase overseas sales.

The bank hopes to leverage its international network to boost exports to emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, rather than to the lagging European and Canadian markets that New England companies have traditionally turned to.

Under an eight-point program announced this week, the $43.5 billion- asset bank is stepping up efforts to supply trade finance, capital market, and treasury-related services to New England companies.

The bank said it will visit 15,000 local firms to offer advice on increasing exports and managing international trade.

Bank of Boston executives said one of the biggest impediments for local businesses looking to start or increase exports was their lack of familiarity with export finance procedures and lack of market information.

"Exporting can be intimidating to small businesses, but need not be," said Richard DeKaser, senior economist with the bank.

Bank of Boston has also set up an international desk where local companies can get on-line information about 50 industries in 78 countries through a toll-free telephone number.

It has also entered into agreements with the Small Business Administration, the United States Export-Import Bank, and the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency to promote the sale of local goods abroad.

As part of its arrangement with the Ex-Im Bank, Bank of Boston has obtained authorization to grant up to $2 million worth of U.S. government- guaranteed loans. The guarantees, covering 90% of principal and interest, are for secured, short-term, working-capital loans to small and midsize businesses.

"This means the bank can respond to the marketplace quicker than it could in the past," said Ed Russell, a spokesman for the bank. Bank of Boston previously had to apply to the Ex-Im bank for guarantees before it could issue a loan.

The bank's program is part of a broader drive by the Clinton administration to promote exports and simplify financial assistance to U.S. manufacturers selling goods overseas.

"It's an unprecedented initiative to help New England companies demystify the export process and dramatically expand exports from the region," said Bank of Boston president Chad Gifford.

With more than 100 offices in 24 countries, Bank of Boston has the third-largest overseas network among U.S. banks and is a major supplier of trade finance.

The bank ranked eighth in trade finance among U.S. banks last year, with nearly $1.2 billion in commercial letters of credit, up from $722 million only two years earlier.

"We're the No. 1 trade bank in New England," Mr. Russell said.

Bank of Boston recently opened offices in Bogota and Beijing. On Monday the bank said it was considering opening offices in Vietnam and India and is also thinking of upgrading its operations in Indonesia and thePhilippines and increasing the number of offices in Brazil to 30 from 26.

The export campaign follows a Bank of Boston study which found that total merchandise exports from the United States increased 108%, from $246.4 billion in 1987 to $512.4 billion last year, but exports from New England have gone up only 77%, from $14.4 billion to $25.8 billion during the same period.

"Exports haven't been the same stimulant to the local economy that they have been to the U.S. as a whole," Mr. DeKaser observed.

The bank's goal, he added, is to help at least double New England exports over the next 10 years, something that the Department of Commerce estimates could create as many as 400,000 new jobs.

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