The article analyses the system of export credit insurance and compares it with systems existing in other countries, e.g. France, Germany and USA. The system of export credit insurance in Poland is operated by a specialized institution, i.e. the Corporation of Export Credit Insurance (Korporacja Ubezpieczeń Kredytów Eksportowych - KUKE) that insures commercial risk on its own account and other risks (political, accident and default) on account of the State Treasury.

The analysis of the export credit insurance system has been performed based on three basic criteria: insurance in total exports, level of knowledge of insurance products represented by Polish exporters, and the number of products offered by KUKE in comparison to the offer of respective institutions from other countries. To this end numerous statistical materials have been used (data of the Central Statistical Office, annual reports of KUKE, and the report of the Institute for Foreign Trade Trends and Prices).

Conclusions presented in the article are, obviously, not exhaustive. The author formulates a general conclusion that the system of export credit insurance in Poland is in compliance with the European standards, however, the scope of the insurance business, both commercial and pursued on account of the State Treasury, is much narrower than in industrialized countries. Low awareness of exporters and insufficient knowledge of insurance facilities related techniques are also alarming. In turn, exporters pay attention to relatively high costs of insurance, long application approval procedures, and severe criteria for risks to be insured. It is optimistic that the share of insurance in total exports has been slowly increasing, and KUKE has been gradually expanding its insurance offer.