ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & Chief Operating Officer; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it will collaborate with eGuarantee, Inc. (hereinafter “eGuarantee”) to start a new service to guarantee receivables for exports to China.
This is a full-fledged service to guarantee export receivables and is available to exporters with one or more export destinations for China.
The service will be provided through an initiative in which eGuaratee underwrites credit risk related to proceeds from the sale of products exported from Japan to China, and China United SME Guarantee
Corporation (hereinafter “SinoGuarantee”), a major guarantee company in China, re-guarantees credit risk through Cosmos Services Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Hong Kong; Shinji Nozaki, Managing Director; hereinafter “Cosmos”), an insurance broker of ITOCHU.

Japan is the second largest exporter to China behind the United States, with annual exports of approximately 18 trillion yen(*1).
However, many Japanese companies are concerned about the collection of payments, as it is difficult to obtain financial and credit information on Chinese companies and the risk of default is rising due to the recent trade friction between China and the United States and monetary tightening.

This initiative aims to facilitate export transactions by providing a guarantee service that is easy for small and medium enterprises in Japan to use, employing a combination of eGuarantee’s sales network in Japan and ITOCHU’s overseas network and insurance business knowhow.

SinoGuarantee is a major guarantee company established at the initiative of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2012, for the purpose of guaranteeing loans to small and medium enterprises in China.
It has extensive knowledge about the credit risks associated with this market segment.
ITOCHU and eGuarantee will launch a new service through a business alliance with SinoGuarantee, with the aim of achieving 10 billion yen in guarantees outstanding in three years.

ITOCHU and eGuarantee will expand their service for China and other parts of Asia, where economic growth and the expansion of trade transactions are expected to continue.
The companies will develop the business to guarantee corporate credit risks in order to help boost the export business of Japanese companies.