Tips for Managing Credit & Risk Trading​

Global supply chains have faced mounting pressure in 2025. As businesses plan and consider new strategies, Allianz Trade’s expert risk reporting offers valuable insights to help you build more resilient supply chains and protect your growth.   As summer draws to a close and a new “school year” begins, September marks a moment of planning ahead – not only for students, but for businesses too. At the start of 2025, companies braced themselves for geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, and evolving threats in areas like cybersecurity and the environment. As the year’s progressed, these concerns have not only materialized – they’ve grown and compounded, creating new levels of economic volatility and uncertainty, and heaping pressure on global supply chains.   To effectively manage evolving supply chain risks, businesses need a proactive approach. Allianz Trade’s Country Risk, Sector Risk, and Collection Complexity reports provide companies with clear and regularly updated insights, helping you identify vulnerabilities in your supply chain and spot opportunities to strengthen it, and act confidently in the face of significant global uncertainty.

Companies typically view insurance as a safety net, a cost to mitigate risk. But what if it could also be a catalyst for growth? This data deep dive explores how Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) transforms from a protective tool into a powerful growth engine, using insights and real-world data from the Allianz Trade guide.

Trade Credit Insurance can seem complex, but understanding its core functions is key to leveraging its benefits. This FAQ-style guide provides clear and concise answers to your most pressing questions, based on insights from the Allianz Trade Guide to Credit Insurance.

Extending credit to customers is a necessary part of doing business, but it comes with the inherent risk that some invoices will never be paid. When an account receivable becomes uncollectible, it becomes a bad debt, and it must be accounted for on your income statement as a bad debt expense. This expense directly reduces your profitability and impacts your cash flow. Effectively managing and protecting your business against bad debt expense is therefore crucial for your financial health. This guide covers how to account for, manage, and ultimately, insure against this critical business cost.

The rise of B2B e-commerce presents opportunities for growth alongside challenges, such as cyber fraud. To protect e-commerce platforms and secure growth, businesses must implement strong anti-fraud measures.   B2B e-commerce is fast becoming the biggest growth driver of the digital economy. In early 2025, global B2B e-commerce sales reached US$7.7 trillion – more than double the total for B2C e-commerce, according to the B2B eCommerce Association.   To capitalize on this growth, cyber criminals are increasingly targeting B2B e-commerce platforms with more diverse and sophisticated fraud attacks. From invoice fraud to buyer fraud, fraudsters are continuously evolving strategies and honing new methods.   Businesses can counteract the efforts of cyber criminals and respond effectively with innovative anti-fraud solutions like Allianz Trade pay. With a range of built-in functionalities designed specifically for B2B e-commerce businesses, Allianz Trade pay helps you mitigate fraud risks without compromising your operational efficiency nor your growth.

Credit protection is a vital strategic function for any business that sells on credit terms. It encompasses the policies and tools you use to mitigate the risk of non-payment from customers, safeguarding your cash flow and ensuring sustainable growth. Without a well-structured credit protection plan, your accounts receivable are exposed, leaving your business vulnerable to defaults and customer insolvency.   This guide covers the essentials of building a robust credit protection strategy, from foundational internal controls to the comprehensive security offered by trade credit insurance.

As businesses start planning their growth strategies for 2026, they face considerable volatility and a challenging outlook for global trade. Findings from the recently published Allianz Trade Global Survey 2025 show that US tariff increases and trade restrictions, announced by the Trump administration on 2 April 2025 (what it referred to as “Liberation Day”), have shaken exporter confidence. Less than half of businesses expect positive export growth in the next 12 months, compared with 80% before Liberation Day, according to the survey. These developments follow already challenging conditions for businesses, characterized by a diverse range of evolving risks, including inflation and currency fluctuations.   In this complex and fast-changing landscape, successful businesses must be proactive, adopting strategies and innovative solutions to secure their growth amid the uncertainties. Companies are looking for more than just standard protections – they need accuracy, speed, and confidence in their trade credit decisions. With our data-driven and technology-led approach to trade credit insurance, Allianz Trade offers a clear competitive advantage. By combining access to comprehensive and diverse sets of macroeconomic data, including company financial and behavioral data, with the deep market knowledge of our risk specialists, our trade credit solutions empower your business to grow faster and make better-informed decisions.

In the realm of global trade and high-value projects, managing risk is critical. When expanding into new markets or dealing with unfamiliar partners, a simple contract is often not enough to inspire confidence. A Bank Guarantee (BG) has long served as a trusted financial instrument to protect parties from default. But is it always the best solution?   Today’s evolving trade landscape demands a more sophisticated approach. While understanding BGs is essential, it's equally important to know the alternatives – particularly Surety Bonds and Trade Credit Insurance (TCI). This guide explores these key instruments, helping you choose the right solution to trade and operate with confidence.

In today's volatile global economy, managing credit risk is more critical than ever. Every time your business extends credit by invoicing a client for goods or services delivered, you face the possibility of non-payment. While offering credit is a powerful tool to boost sales and build customer loyalty, unchecked it can threaten your cash flow and long-term stability.    Effective credit risk management is not just a defensive measure; it’s a strategic function that allows your business to grow confidently. This guide provides a comprehensive framework for identifying, analyzing, and proactively mitigating the credit risks inherent in B2B trade.