What is credit insurance for businesses?

A strategic tool for risk management

Credit insurance is more than just protection against non-payment—it’s a powerful risk management tool. Insurers provide valuable credit analysis that helps businesses assess the financial health of their customers. With this insight, companies can easily set payment terms and credit limits while reducing exposure to high-risk markets. This proactive approach strengthens financial stability and supports safer, more confident commercial growth.

How does credit insurance work?

When a credit insurance policy is in place, the insurer starts by assessing the creditworthiness of your customers. You’ll get insights into their financial health, and coverage limits are set for each buyer—either individually or through a discretionary limit you manage. You continue doing business as usual, and your customers don’t need to know you’re insuring your sales.

The insurer monitors your customers on an ongoing basis, alerting you to any signs of financial trouble or payment issues. If a customer files for bankruptcy or fails to pay on time, the insurer first tries to collect the debt through friendly recovery efforts. If that doesn’t work, they’ll reimburse you for the covered amount—usually up to 90%—helping you avoid major losses and maintain healthy cash flow.

What are the benefits of credit insurance?

Credit insurance enables companies to secure their transactions, improve access to financing, and optimize receivables management. It’s not just protection against non-payment—it’s a strategic tool for sustainable and controlled growth.

Securing sales to your customers

The core function of credit insurance is to help businesses make informed credit decisions and ensure their invoices get paid. If a customer files for bankruptcy or fails to pay due to financial difficulty, the insurer steps in—first to attempt recovery, and then to compensate the business for the insured amount. This protection allows companies to trade with confidence, knowing they’re safeguarded against any financial setbacks caused by non-payment.

Expanding sales with confidence

Credit insurance allows businesses to offer more competitive terms and extend credit to new or higher-risk customers—both domestically and internationally. By removing the risk of non-payment, it enables companies to pursue growth opportunities with confidence and safely expand sales into new markets, often producing a positive ROI.

Improving access to financing

Securing your sales also strengthens a company’s position with banks and lenders. When receivables are insured, they become a more stable asset, reducing risk in the eyes of financial institutions and making it easier to access more working capital on better terms. Since receivables typically represent around 40% of a company’s balance sheet, protecting them becomes a powerful tool for improving financing options.

Supporting receivables management and customer relationships

Beyond protection, credit insurance includes proactive receivables monitoring, risk analysis, and debt collection services. Insurers provide credit ratings and insights that help businesses tailor payment terms, set appropriate credit limits, and preserve customer relationships through amicable collection efforts. This helps companies anticipate risks, improve cash flow, and grow safely—even in uncertain markets.

Who benefits from credit insurance?

Credit insurance is a valuable tool for any business that sells goods or services on open credit terms.  It’s especially useful for companies with large receivables, high customer concentration, or international sales, where credit creditworthiness of foreign buyers is difficult to assess.  Common users include manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, distributors, and service providers across industries like retail, food & beverage, construction, chemicals, and logistics

Companies that take a cautious approach to credit management often benefit the most from credit insurance. By leveraging the insurer’s broader risk appetite and data, these businesses can safely extend terms or sell to customers they may have previously deemed too risky. This not only protects against loss, but can also open the door to new revenue opportunities, often resulting in a strong return on investment.

Choosing AU Group: 4 advantages that make all the difference

Unrivalled expertise in credit insurance

With over 310 experts present in 50 countries, AU Group is the leading independent provider of credit insurance and trade receivables financing. For years, we have been putting our in-depth market expertise at the service of companies for tailor-made strategic support.

Our strong point? A unique ability to negotiate differentiating and competitive solutions.

Customized support and innovative solutions

Our approach is based on a detailed analysis of your challenges, in-depth market research and rigorous negotiation with insurers and factors. We devise strategies tailored to your sector, its specific features and your company's ambitions, to guarantee flexible yet robust, long-term solutions. To achieve this, we rely on a resolutely innovative approach. Thanks to high-performance digital tools, we give you a clear view of country risks, optimize your receivables management and access strategic data to secure your decisions. These technological solutions provide you with precise control and proactive risk management, combining human expertise with the power of digital technology for ever more effective and responsive support.

Thus, we guarantee you robust, long-term solutions.

Commitment at every stage to maximize your performance

We optimize your financial management, strengthen your coverage and help you obtain advantageous financing terms. Thanks to our agile structure and responsive organization, we're at your side every day to manage your contract and adjust your coverages as your needs evolve. We defend your interests with both insurers and financial partners.

Our mission doesn't stop with setting up a contract: we're with you every step of the way to secure your business and support your growth.

A close relationship and ongoing support

Customer risk management is a strategic challenge. To meet this challenge, our experienced account managers support you on a daily basis with tailor-made monitoring, regular analysis and detailed reporting. Thanks to our proactive approach, we optimize your coverage, facilitate claims management and help you secure your cash flow.

To go even further while allowing you ever greater autonomy, we provide you with powerful digital tools enabling you to monitor country risk trends, effectively manage your receivables and access strategic data to inform your decisions. By combining our human expertise with advanced technologies, we offer you optimized, responsive risk management.

Our aim: to enable you to focus on your growth with complete peace of mind, with a trusted partner at your side.