Today Export Development Canada (EDC) announced a $969 million dividend payment to its shareholder, the Government of Canada.
While job one for EDC is fulfilling its important mandate to help Canadian companies of all sizes grow their business abroad, the dividend payment is a second way that EDC creates benefits for Canada.
In 2017, EDC facilitated more than CAD 100 billion in Canadian exports, foreign investment and trade development activities, while serving close to 9,400 companies - the largest number of companies served in EDC’s 73-year history.
“Our aspiration is to help more companies than ever before go, grow and succeed internationally, and we’ll achieve this by using our carefully managed capital base, not taxpayer dollars as is often assumed or misinterpreted,” said Benoit Daignault, President and CEO of EDC. “In fact, in the last five years prior to this payment we paid a total of $3.9 billion in dividends to the Government, and by proxy to the Canadian taxpayer.”
EDC is a profitable, financially independent Crown Corporation that generates revenue primarily by collecting interest on loans, fees on its guarantee products and premiums on its insurance products at market rates. It does not provide subsidies. EDC raises funds through international capital markets.
Annually, EDC determines the capital position needed to meet the demands of current and future business as well as maintain its ability to withstand future, unpredictable risks. Once that capital position is projected, part of the surplus can then be paid back to the Government of Canada in the form of a dividend.
What drives EDC’s success is the success of Canadian businesses. With a small domestic population, many Canadian companies need to access foreign customers and supply chains to grow. Products and services EDC offers are designed to help them do exactly that.
