Bad Debt Protection
Replaces cash flow and shields your balance sheet against non-payment and insolvency risks.
Trade Credit Insurance
Protect Your Cash Flow & Drive Business Growth
Trading on credit terms exposes your business to bad debt—no matter how small or established your customer base may be. Unpaid invoices, customer insolvency, and political risks can severely impact your working capital.
A Trade Credit Insurance policy acts as bad debt protection, replacing cash flow in the event of customer failure or non-payment. By replacing an unknown potential loss with a known, fixed cost, your management team gains the confidence to trade boldly, extend credit terms safely, and drive sales in new markets.
What Does Trade Credit Insurance Cover?
Also known as credit risk insurance, accounts receivable insurance, or simply credit insurance, a trade credit insurance policy typically covers three core risks: customer insolvency, protracted default (where a customer simply fails to pay within agreed terms), and, for export credit insurance policies, political risk in the buyer's country. Cover can be arranged across your whole ledger, or structured around your largest and most important accounts — whichever best reflects how business credit insurance needs to work for your business.
The three core risks
Customer insolvency
A customer becomes insolvent and can't pay what it owes
Protracted default
A customer simply fails to pay within agreed terms
Political risk
For export credit insurance policies: risk in the buyer's country
Who Needs Trade Credit Insurance?
Any business that sells goods or services on credit terms carries some level of bad debt risk — whether you invoice five customers a month or five hundred. Trade credit insurance is suitable for established businesses looking to protect existing turnover, as well as growing companies wanting the confidence to extend credit terms to new customers, enter new sectors, or trade in markets they don't yet know well. It's particularly valuable for businesses with a concentrated customer base, where the loss of a single large account could have a significant impact on cash flow.
Key Benefits of Our Trade Credit Insurance Solutions
Export Credit Insurance
Covers international trading risks, bad debt, and political uncertainties when expanding into overseas markets.
Credit Risk Monitoring
Access real-time monitoring tools and intelligence on customer creditworthiness to prevent losses before they happen.
Confidence to Grow
With cover in place, you can extend credit terms to new and existing customers, enter new markets, and pursue larger contracts without exposing your business to unknown risk.
Improved Access to Finance
Insured debtors are often viewed more favourably by lenders, helping you access invoice finance and working capital funding on better terms.
The Cost of Not Having Cover
Without cover, a single bad debt can wipe out the profit margin on months of sales — and in severe cases, the insolvency of one major customer can threaten the survival of the business itself. Trade credit insurance turns that unpredictable risk into a fixed, manageable cost, so a customer failure becomes a claim rather than a crisis.
How a Trade Credit Insurance Policy Works
A trade credit insurance policy sets a credit limit for each of your customers, based on their financial strength and trading history. Your premium is typically calculated as a percentage of your insured turnover, giving you a known, fixed cost rather than an unpredictable one. If a customer fails to pay because of insolvency or protracted default, you claim against the policy and receive a percentage of the outstanding debt — usually within a matter of weeks rather than months. As your business and customer base change, your broker reviews and adjusts cover to make sure it keeps pace.
- A credit limit is set for each customer
- Your premium is based on your insured turnover
- A customer fails to pay
- You claim and receive part of the debt
- Your cover is reviewed as you grow
Industries We Support
We arrange trade credit insurance for businesses across manufacturing, construction, recruitment, wholesale and distribution, food and drink, and exporters trading internationally. Each sector carries different risks — from long payment cycles in construction to currency and political risk when exporting — so we tailor policies to reflect how your business actually trades, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution.
Manufacturing
Construction
Recruitment
Wholesale and distribution
Food and drink
Exporters
Claims & Ongoing Support
Cover is only as good as the support behind it. Our dedicated team guides you through the process from notification to payment, so you know exactly what to expect and when. Between claims, our credit risk monitoring service keeps you informed of changes to your customers' creditworthiness, giving you early warning of potential problems — and the chance to act before a loss occurs, rather than after.
Why Use an Independent Broker?
Because we're independent and whole-of-market, we're not restricted to a single insurer's appetite or pricing. We compare cover across the market to find the policy that's structured correctly and placed in the right market home for your business — then manage it for you throughout its life, from renewal negotiations to day-to-day policy administration. It's the kind of personal account management that's often missing from larger more generic providers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Premiums are typically calculated as a small percentage of insured turnover, and are often offset by the savings made on bad debt provisions and improved access to finance.
Yes — cover typically responds to both formal insolvency and protracted default, where a customer simply fails to pay within agreed terms.
Yes, export credit insurance can be added to cover international trading risks, including political and currency-related risks, alongside standard non-payment cover.
Your policy responds as soon as insolvency is confirmed or, in cases of protracted default, once the waiting period set out in your policy has passed — your broker will guide you through exactly when and how to notify a claim.
Get in Touch
Ready to protect your cash flow and trade with confidence? Speak to our trade credit insurance specialists for independent, no-obligation advice tailored to your business.
Also need a bond? Take a look at our surety bonds.