Export Credit Insurance

Trading overseas presents different challenges to selling within the UK.

Non payment risk protection

Often B2B (Business to Business) companies consider non-payment risk protection to be paramount when entering into contracts with non UK customers for simply geographical reasons “should something go wrong”, whether located in OECD or non-OECD markets.

A bad debt regardless of size is unpalatable, but as a business you may be comfortable with taking the occasional “hit”? Why should you then still consider such protection?

Financial Loss – the size of the bad debt or accumulative impact of a series of bad debts for which the provision cannot cater.

Type of bad debt – if an export customer cannot pay due to:

Insolvency – its interpretation takes different forms depending on the local country legalities
Default – refusal to pay where insolvency cannot be proven
Political risk – external factors which prevent performance of your contract with your customer
Arbitrary cancellation – there is no recourse through the international courts as your customer’s ownership is government or quasi-government

Tangible Benefits

In protecting your sales overseas, credit insurance can also provide other tangible benefits:-

Information – trade credit insurers have access to significant business intelligence sourced from a number of channels, much of which is outside the public domain. By their commercial support on open account terms, this could preclude the need to seek security which might limit your competitive position whether you seek to win market share, or increase business with a new or existing customer.
Unlock more attractive financing – securing the export receivables, may facilitate improved and more competitive finance.
Collection – some insurers have a very wide global experience offering in house collection services as an integral part of the credit insurance offering, or as a “stand alone” arrangement. This can be invaluable where advice on “local conditions” is critical to accelerate payment, and limit third party collection costs.

Summary

In summary, Attis Credit Solutions are very conversant with the appropriate export credit insurers whose approach can differ markedly depending on the country mix, your terms of payment, historical experience, profile of customers and your preferred policy structure. We make great efforts to fully understand your pattern of business in order that we can negotiate the best terms on your behalf, and that these are tailored correctly.

From a choice of over 10 insurers, cover can range from multi-customer to specific account.

What Our Clients Say

Having worked with Paul and his team for over twenty years, I have no hesitation in recommending Attis Credit Solutions. As well as sourcing the correct cover for all of our Credit Insurance needs, the team also provide us with on-going insight and sector specific market intelligence, enabling us to proactively manage our risk portfolio and keep bad debt to an absolute minimum.

Operations Director – £200m Energy Provider

Service is extremely important for us when selecting a broker and having experienced a fantastic level of service working with the team at Attis for around 10 years across various companies/brokerages, it was a no brainer for us to appoint Attis. They take time to understand your business and its needs.