Credit decisions that once unfolded over days now need to happen in minutes, across thousands of buyers, markets, and supply chains that can shift overnight.

For underwriters, that pressure has made digital capability, from automation and data integration to AI-driven monitoring, a necessity for shaping how insurers assess exposure and support clients in real time.

It is against that backdrop that Atradius was named Best Trade Credit Underwriter at the Trade Treasury Payments Awards, celebrated this year in Jersey City, USA. The firm has invested heavily in embedding AI and digital tools across underwriting and risk services, with the aim of speeding up decisions, improving consistency, and giving clients earlier visibility into emerging risks.

Following receipt of their award, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Aaron Rutstein (AR), Director of Risk Services for Atradius North America, about how that strategy is reshaping day-to-day underwriting and where trade credit insurance is heading next.

TTP: Trade credit insurance has traditionally been relationship-led and manual in places. What prompted Atradius to prioritise digitalisation and AI so heavily across underwriting and risk services?

AR: Trade credit insurance has long been built on trust and expertise, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed is the speed, scale, and volatility of risk that our clients operate in today. Since 2019, Atradius has prioritised digitalisation and AI because manual processes alone cannot keep pace with today’s trade environment. 

Our goal was not to replace human judgment, but to augment it. By embedding AI into our underwriting and risk services, we’ve created a digital ecosystem that delivers greater transparency, consistency, and speed, while still relying on experienced underwriters for complex or nuanced risks.

TTP: You now process more than 70% of credit limit applications automatically. How has that changed the speed, consistency, and day-to-day experience for clients and brokers?

AR: Automation has significantly improved the client and broker experience. 

Today, more than 70% of credit limit applications – across more than 140 countries and 3.4 million applications annually – are processed automatically using our proprietary AI/ML models, powered by technologies like Temenos XAI and Logical Glue. 

For clients, this means faster decisions and clearer outcomes. For brokers, it has brought greater predictability and precision, all while freeing our underwriters to focus on more complex cases. 

This leads to more accurate risk assessments, fewer manual errors and over $45 million in claims savings to date.

TTP: Looking ahead, how do you see AI-driven underwriting and risk monitoring shaping the next phase of the market, particularly as clients face more volatility and sustainability pressures?

AR: We see AI becoming central to how trade credit insurance supports clients, not just by reacting to risk, but by anticipating it. Over time, AI will make underwriting more predictive, proactive, and aligned with both financial and sustainability outcomes. 

Our AI-powered news monitoring already scans 180,000 sources globally with 95% match accuracy, providing early alerts on negative events at the buyer, sector, or country level. 

TTP: How important is integration to the future of trade credit insurance, and what does that mean for how insurers and corporates work together?

AR: Integration will be critical to the future of trade credit insurance. Through our APIs, clients can connect Atradius directly to their ERP and treasury systems to automate credit limit requests, buyer health checks, and policy management. 

Atradius Flow goes further by embedding our data directly into Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Business Central, bringing real-time insights into everyday workflows. Ultimately, this changes the relationship between insurers and corporates, shifting from transactional to collaborative.

TTP: What does it mean to you to have been selected as the Best Trade Credit Underwriter at the TTP awards?

AR: It’s an honour to have been selected as the Best Trade Credit Underwriter at the Trade Treasury Payments awards, reflecting the collective work of the entire Atradius team. 

Our industry-leading NPS scores, strong broker loyalty, and tangible outcomes demonstrate that we’re not just modernising trade credit insurance but also raising the bar for the market.

The full list of award winners is now available on the TTP Awards Winners page