Credit is vital to the commercial world. Markel’s trade credit coverage ensures that buyers and sellers can do business with confidence. Our trade credit insurance protects against counterparty payment default risks.
Buyers, sellers, and their bankers have long relied on credit to facilitate trade, but never more so than in today’s global marketplace where supply and demand are founded on increasingly complex credit arrangements. Where credit is involved there are also counterparty risks. What happens if a counterparty defaults on its obligation before meeting its commitments through insolvency or for other reasons? Non-payment can have a devastating effect on balance sheets, which is why trade credit insurance is essential for business security and confidence.
Scope of cover
Coverage benefits
- Balance sheet and cash flow protection
- Improved terms for bank financing facilities
- An effective alternative to letters of credit or other types of collateral
- Reduced need for bad debt reserves
- Increase sales to new and existing buyers/countries
- Risk transfer to satisfy capital adequacy
- Security of non-cancellable credit and country limits
Policy structures
- Excess of Loss: for clients with strong credit management procedures seeking to cover their entire trade credit portfolio; non-cancelable credit limits, discretionary credit limit authority (DCL) and annual first loss deductibleExcess marine liabilities
- Named/Key account: for clients that seek to cover their most important buyers; non-cancelable credit limits, with or without a deductible
- Single buyer: cover for one single (key) buyer; non-cancelable limit, no deductible