Credit Insurance Companies

FCIA – Great American Insurance Company

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:51:20 +0000

For any business that extends credit to its clients, credit insurance is a valuable asset. For example, say a company has 50 customers and sells washing machines. Of those 50 customers, the washing machine manufacturer feels 20 of those companies are their most important customers because they buy the most merchandise. The washing machine can identify which of those companies they’re most concerned about, maybe because of their history of past late payments, non-payments or their amount of extended credit. The underwriter for the credit insurance policy will investigate those specific clients and approve those that the policy would cover. A huge benefit is the underwriters will continue to monitor the financial health of those companies over time. Your company will recieve regular reports from the insurance company about your clients, and so, if the client meets financial difficulty, you and your company will be aware of it quickly.
The Foreign Insurance Association and FCIA have provided top quality insurance products and services to their customers since their inception in 1961. The FCIA have serviced customers’ needs through many political and financial crises around the world, including problems affecting the entire regions of Latin America and Asia, as well as problems affecting specific country events in places like Kuwait, Russia, Venezuela and Mexico. Their services also extend to underwriting through numerous economic downturns in the developed world, and the FCIA have also managed their risks and paid significant claims over their 45+ years of existence, demonstrating their status as a reliable trade credit insurance partner. Each FCIA customer is assigned to a team of 2 to 3 experienced underwriters, who handle all aspects of their relationship with the FCIA. With a wide range of products for companies and financial institutions that cover multiple types of transaction structures, the FCIA adds clear policy wordings and a flexible approach to tailoring coverages to satisfy specific customer needs.

Atradius Insurance Company

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:08:11 +0000

Credit insurance is instrumental in minimising non payment risks caused by financial, economic or political uncertainties. Credit insurance is also a useful tool for managing financial performances, increasing sales and optimising balance sheet efficiency. Additionally, it is good for facilitating financing of receivables. Credit insurance is often said to be a broker driven business as brokers mainly help in creating market competition between insurers for better premium pricing and policy wordings for policy holders. Brokers also help policy holders to comply with the policy wordings in order to ensure smooth claiming processes, if any should occur. Credit insurance is invaluable in aiding successful national and international business to business trade. It will cover the risk of financial loss, which can occur when trade credit is offered by a business to its corporate customers, and thus, it provides a set period of credit after provision of products or services before payment is due. There is always a risk of non payment in these circumstances, either because the customer may be unwilling to pay or because of an unforeseen event, preventing successful completion of the sales.
In the field of credit insurance, Atradius has been the leader, offering credit insurance which can cover the complete range of risk of non payment inherent in trade credit sales, or just those that their clients choose to cover. Atradius’ flexible approach to underwriting allows each policy to be customised, from simple, no frills cover suitable for a small to medium sized enterprise, with limited resources, to a global scheme providing a consistent and comprehensive service to multinational corporations, with atradius account management and underwriting support in each of the client’s worldwide locations. The essential benefit of Atradius credit insurance is that it provides not only peace of mind to the client, who can be assured that their trade is protected, but also valuable market intelligence on the financial viability to the client’s customers or buyers, and in the case of buyers in foreign countries, on any trading risks peculiar to those countries.

COFACE Euler Hermes ACI

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:15:41 +0000

The end of the nineteenth century, saw the development of credit insurance, mostly in Western Europe between the first and Second World Wars.several credit insurance companies were founded in every country, some of them even managing the political risk to export on behalf of their State. Over the 90s, a concentration of the trade credit insurance market took place and three groups accounted for over 85% of the global credit insurance market. The main players focused on Western Europe, but eventually and rapidly expanded towards Eastern Europe, Asia and the Americas.The main players were, Atradius, a merger between NCM and Gerling Kreditversicherung, later renamed Atradius after it was de-merged from the Gerling insurance group. Euler Hermes, a merger between the two credit insurance companies of the Alliaz Group. CESCE, formerly a Spanish government sponsored institution established in 1966, now part of the CESCE GROUP, and COFACE, formerly a French government sponsored institution established in 1946.
Compagnie Française d’Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (COFACE), after being founded in 1946, was subsequently privatised by the government and continued as a commercial enterprise. Today, however, COFACE is owned by the band group Natixis. The insurance company provides guarantees or insurance on accounts receivable coming out of sales of commercial goods and services on credit terms of 30 day and 60 day time scales especially for export companies, and sometimes on longer time scales. COFACE manages state guarantees for exports by French corporations, while providing other international support for exporters. As a world leader in trade-credit information and protection, COFACE serves 85,000 clients in 83 countries, and has been expanding into the related fields of trade finance, including factoring, and accounts receivable management. COFACE extends its provisions to the UK, Ireland, North America and Australia.

SFAC Insurance

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:09:44 +0000

For businesses extending credit to their customers, having business credit insurance is very important. Having credit insurance to protect your company against the possible default and insolvency of your customers ideally suited to minimise the risk involved in extending credit to your clients. Trade credit insurance covers businesses against the risk of bad debt due to the insolvency or protracted default of their buyers. Trade credit insurance is an invaluable tool in credit management, as, among other things, it provides a replacement of working capital when bad debts and late payments impacts cash flow. Most trade credit insurance policies are specifically tailored to meet individual needs of businesses. This is required as businesses vary so widely that a standard policy will not be adequate in fitting all cases. Though a number of insurance companies underwrite trade credit insurance, many tend to specialise in particular areas.
The current Euler Hermes group has mainly been built up by its two largest subsidiaries, Euler Hermes SFAC in France and Euler Hermes Kreditversicherung in Germany. SFAC was founded in 1927 by several large insurance companies, and has held, the no. 1 position in the French credit insurance market since its inception. SFAC entered the factoring business by creating SFF Affacturage, in 1964, which, in 1999, merged with Credit Lyonnais’ factoring subsidiary. Out of the merger came the new company, EUROFACTOR, which is today, the European leader in integrated factoring. During the 90s, both SFAC (now a holding company) and Hermes began expanding in international markets by acquiring leading credit insurers or creating new subsidiaries. In 1996 AGF became a majority shareholder of the holding company SFAC while Allianz took control over Hermes. Within the same year, the holding company SFAC changed its name to EULER, and in 1998, two years later, Alliaz acquired a majority shareholding in AGF.

Chubb Co Insurance Company

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:26:43 +0000

Overall, credit insurance described both trade credit insurance and credit life insurance. In terms of credit life insurance, it is a consumer purchase, often sold with large purchases like a car or house. The insurance will pay off the loan balance in the event of the death or disability of the borrower, and depending on the type of insurance policy, it may also cover job loss if it was at no fault of the borrower. This type of insurance is not only beneficial to the company financing the purchase who is able to satisfy a debt, but it is also a benefit to the borrower who can rest assured that their debt is being paid off. Trade credit insurance, otherwise known as business credit insurance, is a policy and risk management product covering the payment risks resulting from the delivery of goods or services. This branch of credit insurance usually covers a portfolio of buyers and pays an agrees percentage of an invoice or receivable that remains unpaid as a result of protracted default, insolvency or bankruptcy.
Offering both business and personal insurance, Chubb Insurance company offers an extensive product offering to company and individual consumers alike. Chubb covers homeowners with policies which provide a high level of protection and service, to assist in home restoration in the event of misfortune. For individuals, Chubb also covers automobiles, yachts and other valuable articles. On the business insurance side, Chubb offers solutions to help companies manage a wide range of risks and exposures met with in today’s business environment. The insurance company offers professional and management liability, property and casualty, industry solutions, and loss control solutions in order to meet a wide range of specific business company needs. Chubb is a premier provider of executive protection insurance, thanks to their customer-first claims approach, financial strength and local presence.