The business of imports and exports is booming.
And with it, the need for banking products and services to meet the complex financing needs of businesses across the U.S. managing international trade.
Enter the Regions Global Trade Finance team.
Led by Carson Strickland, the Global Trade Finance sales team is part of Regions Treasury Management, with bankers across the 15-state footprint supporting businesses with cross-border financing needs in import- and export-related transactions.
“The global trade market has been strong in recent years, but we are seeing that ongoing geopolitical issues in every region of the country continue to create challenges for companies that both import and export,” Strickland explained. “However, we believe this makes the solutions we provide even more relevant to companies engaged in this activity.”
In December 2022, Regions was recognized alongside Global Trade Finance client Bayshore Group as the ‘Deal of the Year’ award winner at the EXIM Annual Conference held in Washington, D.C.
A paper and pulp trading company, Bayshore Group exports 100 percent of its products overseas to markets in China, the Middle East, and Europe. A small business, it has been able to successfully grow its client-based revenues since its inception.
Bayshore Group’s leadership was impressed by the amount of experience our team brought to the table, the ongoing collaboration with lines of business partners, and our speed to market.
Jacek Wiltowski, Commercial Banking relationship manager at Regions
Bayshore Group became a Regions client in January 2022 after reevaluating the relationship with its previous bank.
“Bayshore Group’s leadership was impressed by the amount of experience our team brought to the table, the ongoing collaboration with lines of business partners, and our speed to market,” shared Jacek Wiltowski, Commercial Banking relationship manager at Regions. “Since the company exports 100 percent of its product overseas, managing working capital is vital to success.”
Export businesses like Bayshore Group, with annual revenues between $25 million and $100 million, are right in Regions Global Trade Finance team’s sweet spot.
“Regions has developed a strong suite of capabilities around export financing,” said Strickland. “This key segment of the exporter market has working capital needs specific to their export business that often does not get addressed.”
A majority of the Bayshore Group’s business is conducted via letters of credit and with the foreign customer sales cycle. With the time shipments take to get to the foreign ports, the company was in need of working capital for which EXIM was ideal. The EXIM working capital line of credit allowed Bayshore Group to utilize their foreign receivables as collateral and continue to grow.
Regions Bank has been an EXIM Delegated Authority Lender since 1994 and an EXIM Letter of Credit policyholder since 1991. In February 2020, EXIM’s Board of Directors unanimously approved an increase in the delegated authority for Regions, allowing the bank to increase support for exports of U.S. goods and services from small and medium-sized companies in the states in which it operates throughout the South and Midwest. In 2020, Regions was named Export Lender of the Year by EXIM Bank.