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Virgin Money has been accredited under UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) General Export Facility (GEF) programme, allowing more businesses to access export finance support. 

Samir Parkash, the interim CEO of UKEF, has today announced that Virgin Money is the latest financial institution to join the GEF. This onboarding will open up access to financial support for their business customers.

GEF was launched in March 2021 and is designed to provide access to flexible finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) exporters.

The product has unlocked almost £250 million of working capital loans.

Parkash said, “The General Export Facility provides government support to British small businesses. 

We want more businesses to have access to this support from UKEF, which is why I am delighted to announce that the clients of Virgin Money can now use the scheme.”

Virgin Money and UKEF’s first collaboration under GEF is to provide support to the Oxfordshire-based company Westminster Group. The backing has enabled the business to win new export contracts to supply X-Ray security machines to two international airports in Southern Africa.  

Sharon Ellis, head of business networks at Virgin Money, said, “Virgin Money is committed to supporting businesses with their growth ambitions at this key time for the economy.

[The collaboration] is a great example of our relationship teams and trade finance specialists working together to find exactly the right solution to meet the customer’s needs.”

To be eligible for support, businesses must meet several criteria, including showing that in any one of the last three financial years at least 20% of annual turnover has been made up of UK export sales, or that in each of the last three financial years at least 5% of annual turnover has been made up of UK export sales.