Berne Union

The Berne Union, also known as The International Union of Credit & Investment Insurers, is an international non-profit association and community for the global export credit and investment insurance industry.

Berne Union
TypeInternational Trade Association
IndustryInsurance
Founded1934, Berne, Switzerland
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Key people
Maëlia Dufour, President; Benjamin Mugisha, Vice-President; Paul Heaney, Secretary General
Websitehttp://www.berneunion.org

The association provides a forum for professional exchange among members, as well as promoting constructive engagement in collaborative projects with external stakeholders from across the wider trade finance industry, including banks and financiers, regulators and policy setters, traders, academics and other associations. Its mission is to actively facilitate cross-border trade by supporting international acceptance of sound principles in export credit and foreign investment.[1]

Membership

As of January 2023, the Berne Union represents 86 member companies from 67 countries worldwide.[2] These include government-backed official export credit agencies, private credit and political risk insurers and multilateral institutions. In 2021, Berne Union members collectively provided payment risk protection to banks, exporters and investors amounting to US$2.7 trillion.[3] This total business volume represents cover of approximately 13% of total world cross border trade for goods and services, as recorded by WTO figures.[4]

History

The Berne union was founded in 1934 by private and state export credit insurers from France, Italy, Spain and the UK.[5] The first meeting was held in Berne, Switzerland – which is where the name Berne Union comes from. While Berne is still the legal domicile of the Union, it has not met there since 1939.

Notable milestones include:

  • An expanded mandate in 1974, to include members who insure foreign investments
  • Creation of the 'Prague Club'[6] in 1993, designed to support new and maturing export credit agencies and insurers setting up and developing export credit and investment insurance schemes
  • In 1999, the export credit members formed two committees, focusing on short term and medium/long term export credit business

As of 2017, the modern Berne Union is structured around four committees, representing these two export credit groups (short term and medium/long term) along with an investment insurance committee and the so-called Prague Club Committee (PC), which was formally integrated in May 2016, having been a legally separate, but closely associated entity prior to this.[7]

Governance

The Berne Union is led by the President, Vice President and a Management Committee, with each elected position held for a term of two years. The Management Committee are supported by a permanent Secretariat, led by the Secretary General and based in London, in the United Kingdom.[8]

The Current President is Ms Maëlia Dufour, Director of International Relations, Business Development, Rating, Environment and Climate BPIFRANCE - France's Export Credit Agency. Current Vice President, Mr Benjamin Mugisha, Chief Underwriting Officer of Multilateral Insurer African Trade Insurance. Both were elected in November 2022, for a term of two years.[9][10]

Mr Paul Heaney was appointed Secretary General of the Berne Union in May 2023.[11][12]

Activities

Members of the Berne Union meet twice per year for the Spring General Meeting (in April/May) and the Annual General Meeting (in October / November). Throughout the year a further 5-6 meetings take place on specialist topics such as: claims and recoveries, country risk, project finance, reinsurance, data reporting etc.

Current Berne Union Members

References
  1. Directorate, OECD Statistics. "OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms - Berne Union Definition". stats.oecd.org. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  2. "Berne Union - Members".
  3. "Statistics | Berne Union". www.berneunion.org. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  4. "WTO | International Trade Statistics 2015". www.wto.org. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  5. Stephens, Malcolm (1999). The Changing Role of Export Credit Agencies. International Monetary Fund. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-55775-801-9.
  6. "Berne Union Prague Club | Berne Union". www.berneunion.org. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  7. "Berne Union and Prague Club to merge | Global Trade Review (GTR)". Global Trade Review (GTR). 2016-05-13. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  8. "The Berne Union: Who's Who 2016_N". TXF - Trade & Export Finance. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  9. "Michal Ron appointed Berne Union President | TXF News".
  10. Nkurunziza, Michel (2022-11-11). "Newly elected Berne Union president outlines priorities". The New Times. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  11. "Paul Heaney Appointed as Secretary General". www.berneunion.org. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  12. Review, G. T.; Atkins, Jacob (2023-05-17). "Berne Union confirms Heaney as secretary general". Global Trade Review (GTR). Retrieved 2023-08-07.
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