Celebrating 100 years of credit insurance and surety
At Trade Treasury Payments Studios, Eleanor Hill, Treasury Editor at Trade Treasury Payments (TTP), spoke with Richard Wulff, Executive Director of the International Credit Insurance and Surety Association (ICISA), to reflect on a century of trade credit insurance and surety, and what lies ahead for the industry.
Looking back to ICISA’s origins in 1926, Wulff noted that the defining shift came with the move from domestic markets to a fully globalised industry. “It was all nice and national, everyone within their own national boundaries. That’s totally changed. It’s become a real international business,” Wulff said.
The scale of the market has also grown significantly over time, supported in part by advances in technology and the increasing integration of global trade flows. Today, the sector bears little resemblance to its early beginnings.
“Those people from 1926 would not recognise this sector,” Wulff added.
An understated pillar of global trade
Despite its evolution, trade credit insurance remains widely misunderstood outside of the industry. Yet its economic footprint is substantial.
Recent estimates suggest the product supports around 15% of global trade, equivalent to approximately €9.25 trillion in transactions. For Wulff, this is a figure that challenges perceptions of the sector as niche or peripheral. “We’re kind of important to the economy at large,” he quipped.
But with that importance comes responsibility. The industry plays a stabilising role, particularly during periods of stress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, insured trade volumes remained relatively resilient, proving the product’s ability to support economic activity even under extreme conditions.
“It shows that we are underpinning the global economy. It shows that we can handle the heat,” Wulff said.
Awareness and regulation remain key challenges
Despite the importance, one of the sector’s persistent challenges is visibility. Many potential users, including corporates and financial institutions, are simply unfamiliar with how trade credit insurance works or how it can be applied.
“You tell people you work in trade credit insurance, and you usually get a blank stare,” Wulff said.
Addressing that gap is a core focus for ICISA, which promotes education and awareness around the product and its benefits across the financial ecosystem.
At the same time, regulatory developments are creating headwinds. In particular, there are concerns around the treatment of credit insurance under Basel 3.1 rules in Europe, where current assumptions around loss given default (LGD) could limit banks’ ability to use insurance effectively as a risk mitigation tool.
“The biggest pressure now is to get that figure to a reasonable level so that banks can use trade credit insurance as a risk mitigation technique,” Wulff said.
While capacity in the market remains strong, regulatory clarity will be critical in unlocking further growth.
Expaning
Looking ahead, Wulff expects the industry to evolve alongside broader shifts in how businesses transact, particularly with the rise of platform-based models. “The way of doing business is changing. There’s a lot more platform business,” he said.
To remain relevant, insurers and brokers will need to adapt their products, processes, and risk assessment frameworks to support these new models. This will require investment in areas including digital infrastructure, data capabilities, and workflow redesign.
Beyond technology, one of the most significant opportunities for the industry lies in expanding its geographic reach. While trade credit insurance is well established in Europe and parts of the Americas, its presence tends to be limited in regions where access to finance is most constrained.
“Where I do not see it is in the economies who need it most,” Wulff said, pointing to Africa and parts of Asia as areas where the product could play a transformative role by enabling lending and supporting economic development.
By providing banks with risk mitigation and collateral support, credit insurance can help unlock financing in markets where capital is scarce. However, achieving this will require not only entrepreneurial initiative but also broader economic and political stability.
Wulff said, “What would be the biggest success is that credit insurance becomes a well-known and well-used product in Africa.”
As the association marks its centenary, the challenge now is not just to reflect on past growth, but to extend its impact into new markets and new business models, ensuring that credit insurance continues to underpin global trade for the next 100 years.
Prefer to listen? The full conversation is also available as a podcast below.
Key Topics
- The global evolution of trade credit insurance
- Its role in supporting economic resilience
- Regulatory pressures and capital treatment challenges
- Ongoing gaps in market awareness and understanding
- Growth potential in emerging markets, particularly Africa and parts of Asia
Key Insights
Expert Analysis
Richard Wulff, Executive Director at ICISA, reflects on how the industry has shifted from a largely domestic, relationship driven business into a global market shaped by technology and data. Despite its scale and importance, trade credit insurance is still not widely understood. Wolff notes that many businesses and even financial institutions are only loosely familiar with how it works or how it can be used. That lack of awareness continues to hold the market back. What is clear, however, is the sector’s resilience. During COVID, when many parts of the financial system came under strain, trade credit insurance held firm. Coverage levels dipped only slightly and recovered quickly, underlining its role in supporting the real economy. Interestingly, Wolff is clear that capacity is not a concern. Insurers are ready to do more business. The main constraint comes from regulation, particularly rules that overstate potential losses and make it harder for banks to treat credit insurance as an effective risk mitigation tool. Looking ahead, the industry will need to adapt to changes in how business is conducted. Digital platforms, new data flows, and faster decision making will require different approaches to underwriting and product design. At the same time, the greatest opportunity lies in expanding into regions where access to finance remains limited. In parts of Africa and developing Asia, trade credit insurance could play a much more prominent role in enabling lending, supporting businesses, and driving economic development.— Richard Wulff
Key Findings
- Trade credit insurance supports a notable share of global trade flows
- The market remained stable through recent economic shocks, including COVID
- Insurers are open to growth, with capacity readily available
- Regulatory assumptions do not always reflect actual risk experience
- Regions with the greatest need for financing still have limited access to the product
Implications
- Better understanding of the product could unlock meaningful growth across multiple markets
- Better understanding of the product could unlock meaningful growth across multiple markets A more balanced regulatory approach would allow banks to make fuller use of credit insurance
- Digitalisation will reshape how products are delivered and how risks are assessed
- Expansion into emerging markets could help narrow long standing trade finance gaps
- Closer alignment between insurers and banks will be key to scaling impact
Key Takeaways
- Trade credit insurance plays a far more important role than is often recognised
- The market has room to grow, with capacity already in place
- Its resilience has been tested and proven in recent years
- Regulation remains the main barrier to wider adoption
- Growth in developing regions represents both a challenge and a major opportunity
