Carter Hoffman
Deputy Editor, Trade Treasury Payments
Published 19 Jan 2026
Trade credit insurance is one of the central components for how businesses manage receivables, support access to finance, and trade confidently across borders. Yet many encounter the product early in their careers without ever receiving a clear explanation of how it works or why it matters.
This guide provides a structured, beginner-friendly introduction to the fundamentals of trade credit insurance, offering readers a practical grounding in the concepts that shape the market.
The publication introduces the main policy structures used across the industry – including whole turnover, excess of loss, and selected risk cover – and walks through the entire credit insurance process, from how insurers assess buyers, all the way through to how claims are managed.
For anyone working with receivables, the guide offers the context needed to make better credit decisions, ask sharper questions, and work more effectively with insurers, brokers, and internal teams.
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Contents
Trade credit insurance (also named del credere insurance, credit insurance, business credit insurance, or export credit insurance) is the insurance
Trade credit insurance comes in several forms, each shaped by the structure of the underlying trade and the nature of
Trade credit insurance is a very versatile product, and policies can be structured in different ways depending on the size
Buyer underwriting is one of the core operating mechanisms of trade credit insurance, ensuring that each buyer in a policyholder’s
Effective credit management sits at the centre of every trade credit insurance policy, shaping how exposure is monitored, how payment
Claims and recoveries form one of the most important stages in the lifecycle of a trade credit insurance policy as