OTTAWA – Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) have announced the signing of a new protocol intended to ensure that Canadian companies looking to expand their business in global markets have access to the services and financial capacity that best suits their needs. Given that the Canadian economy is small, open and globalizing, EDC and BDC believe that a growing number of Canadian companies, regardless of their size, will need to embrace international markets to succeed. Accordingly, there is a need for both organizations to play a bigger role in helping to improve Canada’s international trade performance, and that role can be optimized by leveraging each other’s strengths wherever possible.
“At the core, this protocol is about giving Canadian companies the best and most pertinent commercial tools from their public sector financial partners,” said Stephen Poloz, President and CEO. “The integrated and coordinated response to the recession by the global financial community brought to light the many benefits of closer collaboration, and we believe those benefits will only appreciate as Canadian companies look to expand their business internationally.”
”The protocol aims to improve the coordination between our two Crown corporations by bringing together our specialized and complementary expertise in a seamless approach to customer service”, said Jean-René Halde, President and CEO, BDC.”We are looking forward to a closer collaboration that will benefit Canadian businesses.”
BDC and EDC will make every effort to ensure that their service offerings are complementary to one another and minimize potential overlap. More emphasis will be placed on guiding new customers towards the core strengths of the organization that will best meet their needs. In addition, each will continue to work in their own way in a complementary fashion with Canada’s private financial institutions.