The definitive push toward a trade credit insurance market took place in the 1960s when the proliferation of credit in international transactions and the growth of domestic and export markets made it necessary to discover and develop mechanisms to protect against payment defaults.

The deferral of payment for the purchase of goods and services (i.e. extending credit) has on the one hand caused a significant increase of commercial transactions for many companies but, on the other hand, these same companies faced the threat of payment delays, extensions and bankruptcies that may seriously affect their own economic viability. Jean Bastin defines credit insurance as ‘a safety system that allows creditors, after the payment of a premium, to be insured against the non-payment of credits due from specific corporations’. Professor Jacques Janssen goes on to state that ‘(credit insurance) is a contract on behalf of which the insurer guarantees the insured, through a premium, the payment of a certain amount in case of the occurrence of a certain risk.’

The three essential terms in this short definition are the premium, the amount insured and the risk insured.

THE ROLE OF THE STATE

Exports are a large part of the GDP (private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports-imports)) of any country in the world. Over the last sixty years all OECD economies have tried to promote exports using various schemes, mainly involving financing and insurance. The other driver of the export growth is demand, which is derived from consumption, investment and government spending; however, each of these drivers have been adversely affected by the economic crisis of 2008–2012.

These factors, plus trying to balance the payments of each economy are the main reasons why, worldwide, different states are continuing to support schemes to boost sales beyond their borders. One such scheme with the most useful longest tradition is credit insurance. As we have explained, exports, financing and insurance are three corners of the same triangle.