Finance Marketing Networking

Event: Get the lowdown on export financing, insurance and tax laws

Want to learn about financing export growth, recent law changes involving exports and get a lowdown on the market? Have a question for bankers, accountants, the U.S. Small Business Administration or other export service providers?

If so, the Export Business Forum on Nov. 29, 2018, may be for you.

This will be an intermediate course on exports and there will be deeper, more topical panels than you might usually get at an export event, said Daniel Pische, senior vice president of First American Bank, one of the presenters. “We have a number of senior speakers on topics important to people in or around exports.”

Pische and Jenny Norris, vice president of Meridian Finance Group, will be leading a discussion on advanced working capital structures such as credit lines and trade credit insurance and how they play off each other. This will include an overview of export working capital, including SBA products, Export-Import Bank products as well as some conventional products available on the marketplace, and speakers will discuss which fit best with certain industries. Norris will go deeper into trade credit insurance and will also address best practices for structuring your policies.

The panel will also give an overview of the current market. “The insurance market is the most competitive it has ever been. Insurance premiums are low so you can put insurance in place to protect export and domestic sales at a modest cost,” Pische said. “If you get the coverage in place now, you can put some downside protections for your business in place and if you wait too long you may not be able to.”

Carlos Somoza, who leads Kaufman Rossin’s international tax services practice, will be leading a discussion on the recent tax legislation on U.S. exporters, including tariff changes, and how they will affect businesses. Besides providing the lowdown on recent changes, this will be timely information for planning for 2019, Pische said. There will be important takeaways whether you are a business owner who is exporting or considering it, a consultant, a lawyer or an accountant.

Mary Hernandez, regional manager of International Trade Programs for the SBA, as well as executives from the Department of Commerce and Export-Import Bank, will be leading a session on government services available to small businesses working with exporters. There will be plenty of time for Q&A and networking.

The event is sponsored by First American Bank and Kaufman Rossin in partnership with the Florida SBDC at FIU, the small business development center within FIU’s College of Business. The event will run from 11:30 am to 3 pm on the FIU Modesto Maidique campus on Nov. 29. It’s free but registration is required and space is limited. For more information and to register, go to go.fiu.edu/exportforum.

Please send GrowBiz topic suggestions and feedback to growbiz@fiu.edu.

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