TradeSmart Online - Atradius ezine

 

Welcome to our TradeSmart Online ezine section. Each issue covers a range of topics which will not only help keep you updated but also provide some useful advice, information and insight into a number of current market, economic and business issues. 

 

TradeSmart Online - August 2010

 

Getting to know you. A focus on Construction

As part of our regular segment on getting-to-know the Atradius team we profile senior underwriter, Carl Earls and get his expert insights on the Construction industry including, the major changes and current trends impacting the industry plus the outlook for the future.

 

How to have a smoother renewal process

Renewing your policy doesn’t have to be an annual headache. Gordon Kidd, Senior Manager of Corporate Relationships provides tips on how our customers can have a smoother renewal process by being prepared, regularly updating their business activities, re-assessing their appetite for risk and getting it in on time.

 

Paying the price of trade assurance

With escalating insolvencies and a delicate global economy, the risks of doing business have never been greater. Jonathan Burns, Senior Account Manager for Atradius explains how our customers can influence the cost to mitigate these risks by understanding the five forces that shape Atradius’ pricing.

 

Atradius Policy's Maximum Credit Terms and Maximum Extension Period

There has been some confusion around the treatment of Maximum Credit Terms (MCT) and Maximum Extension Period (MEP) under the Atradius Policy. Under our Modula Policy, the MCT starts from date of invoice and many of our customers trade on terms that are ‘end of month of delivery’. To accommodate this for a customer trading on 30 days end of month of delivery (eomd) for example, we have set MCT to 60 or 62 days to ensure they have adequate cover. This has caused issues when calculating the MEP during claims examinations because the MEP period expressed in ‘days’ is added to the due date. The expiry of the MEP can fall on the 29th or 30th of a month rather than the last day of that month. Once MEP is reached, our cover no longer applies.

We have been requested to treat eomd terms as a full month so that if terms are 30 days end of month of delivery for a July delivery then due date will be treated as 31 July.

We have agreed to do this going forward. In addition, where payment terms are eomd, we will provide a MEP expressed in months rather than days. This way, the MEP will always expire on the very last day of that month.  However, this will also mean that for the shorter months the MEP will be just under 60 days.

Please note that the new treatment of MCT applies only to payment terms that are End of Month of delivery. If payment terms are set from invoice date, we will treat them as such and MEP will not be calculated from the last day of a month but rather from the due date and will be expressed in days.

We believe this will assist you in limiting confusion when a claim is being assessed. If you do not want MEP expressed in months for eomd terms, please let your account manager know at the time of renewal or when new policy is being signed.

 

Market Monitor

Are insolvencies at last stabilising?

The Market Monitor August 2010 is now available to download and contains the current business environment in The Netherlands, Spain, USA, Belgium, Poland, Japan, and Singapore.

 

Customer Service Charter

Globally we’ve launched our Customer Service Charter. This is our formal commitment to providing excellence across every aspect of our customers' relationship with Atradius anywhere in the world.

 

Economic Outlook

Atradius Economic Outlook, our latest bi-annual global outlook shows a return of confidence in major economies. However, several factors are casting a shadow and could yet derail the recovery.