Press release

UK Export Finance appoints Margaret Eyres as first Head of Direct Lending

UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, has appointed Margaret Eyres as its first ever Head of Direct Lending.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
Margaret Eyres, new UKEF Head of Direct Lending

Margaret Eyres, UK Export Finance Head of Direct Lending

Margaret was formerly the Head of Export Finance UK at Societe Generale focusing on major British exporters. During her tenure there, she also managed the bank’s export finance relationship with EDC, the Canadian export credit agency. Since 2011, Margaret had also represented the Export Finance and Trade Committee of the British Bankers’ Association at the Brussels-based European Banking Federation’s Export Credit Working Group.

Margaret joined UKEF in March 2015 following a corporate banking career including over 25 years spent in trade services, trade finance and export finance at Midland Bank International, ABN AMRO and Societe Generale. Her experience has spanned both corporate and sovereign borrowers in developed and emerging markets along with European exporters, across a range of industrial sectors.

Margaret Eyres, Head of Direct Lending said:

I am delighted to be heading up UKEF’s Direct Lending team, which will be working with a panel of 20 banks and other financial organisations in delivering our new service for UK based exporters. Such exporters may need to spend a couple of years or more when tendering and negotiating for contracts involving significant capital expenditure for the buyers or sponsors.

With this recent £3 billion UKEF scheme, overseas buyers can feel assured of a reliable funding source, the UK government, at the lowest available fixed interest rates determined by the OECD if they buy British and are seeking medium or long term funding for an acceptable contract or project.

Born in Liverpool, Margaret is a graduate of Loughborough University and a charity trustee for The ME Trust. Margaret returns regularly to her family and friends on Merseyside and to the French farming community where she became a fluent French speaker as a teenager.

Media enquiries: Andy Aston, Head of News and Corporate Communications

Email Andy.Aston@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Mobile +44 (0)7458 047053

New business enquiries

Notes for Editors

  1. UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency. It supports long term economic growth and competitiveness by complementing the private market with insurance for exporters, loan guarantees to banks, and support for and provision of loans to overseas buyers of UK goods and services.

  2. Sectors in which UKEF has supported exports include: aerospace, petrochemicals, construction, oil and gas, mining and metals, telecommunications, and transport.

  3. UKEF has a regional network of Export Finance Advisers supporting export businesses.

  4. UKEF supports exporters with a range of products.

  5. Read full details of our Direct Lending Facility.

Published 24 March 2015