Provident Traders, Inc., founded in 1988, is an export finance consultancy and export credit insurance brokerage.
Provident Traders’ principal, John Keevan-Lynch, has more than 39 years’ experience in trade finance, as a trade finance banker actively using Ex-Im Bank’s post-export trade credit insurance and guarantee programs (1981 – 1988), an Ex-Im Bank-insured exporter (1990 -2000), a licensed insurance broker (1988-current) and an acknowledged Ex-Im Bank Medium term (5 – 7 years’ repayment) insured loan expert (1996-current).
Provident Traders brokers international credit (non-payment) and political risk (war, expropriation, etc.) insurance policies issued by private sector insurers (FCIA, AIG, Euler, Atradius, Coface) and public sector insurers (Ex-Im Bank) to U.S. exporters and financial institutions. Provident Traders is an Ex-Im Bank “Gold” broker and a member of Ex-Im’s Broker Advisory Council.
Provident Trader’s consulting services typically involve “structuring” and “hands on” advice to support export-financing needs. Recently Provident Traders helped:
– a CA manufacturer of water canal trenching and lining equipment (a) negotiate the payment L/Cs and Advance Payment Guarantees, (b) secure Ex-Im Bank pre-export working capital inventory financing and (c) review payment documentation for $23 MM in sales to Iraq, a $3 MM sale to Afghanistan and numerous smaller sales to India, Czech Republic and Poland.
– a Guatemalan buyer finance a $2.6 MM tortilla production line for five years with Exim MT insurance. Fixed interest rate was US 3 year Treasuries plus 2.25% p.a..
Prior to founding Provident Traders, Mr. Keevan-Lynch served as a Vice President at Pacific Overseas Finance Corp., the trade finance subsidiary of Creditanstalt Bankverein, Vienna, Austria. While there, he structured, funded or implemented trade finance facilities supported by FCIA or Ex-Im Bank totaling more than $200 million for Mexican and South American buyers of U.S. goods and services.
In 1988, Mr. Keevan-Lynch was the U.S. representative for Organizacion Somex, a leading Mexican arranger of debt/equity swaps. In 1989, he helped implement a $450 million and a $200 million debt-for-lease swap in Mexico involving Pemex oil platforms.
Mr. Keevan-Lynch holds an MIM from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). He has taught International Business Finance at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco Extension. He was born in Venezuela and has traveled extensively throughout Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Turkey.