The International Credit Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA) has released its Standard Annual Report, which showcases robust business growth among its members throughout 2022. However, the report also highlights a significant rise in claims across all business lines, reflecting the with prevailing economic situation characterised by geopolitical tensions, higher inflation, and interest rates, ICISA members anticipate that this trend will persist in the near future, exerting pressure on the real economy. 

Particularly noteworthy is the threefold increase in single-risk claims from 2021 to 2022, soaring from €31 million to €100 million. Additionally, trade credit insurance members paid out €2.5 billion in claims in 2022, compared to €1.5 billion in 2021, demonstrating their support for businesses worldwide.

Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, the demand for trade credit insurance and surety has reached unprecedented levels in 2022. The results unveiled in the ICISA report for 2022 indicate a significant surge in both premium written and exposure. This underscores the value that clients place on the protection offered by trade credit insurance and surety, especially in the current opaque economic conditions. Notably, premiums in surety and trade credit witnessed a substantial increase of 13% in 2022, while exposure surged by 20% in trade credit and 11% in surety.

Incoming ICISA President, Benoît des Cressonnières commented, “ICISA members show undoubtedly their commitment to support to the global economy and service companies across the world to secure their trade. The macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges of last year were significant, but we continued to help businesses to improve their resiliency as we continue to recover from the pandemic and at the same time to face the current new economic challenges.”

The ICISA Annual General Meeting (AGM) served as a platform for members to convene and address the key challenges affecting trade credit insurance, surety, and related topics. Held in Brussels, Belgium, from 5th to 9th June, the AGM witnessed productive discussions during the technical committee meetings and the association’s 81st Annual General Meeting.

Several crucial subjects were deliberated during the ICISA AGM Week, including the macroeconomic and geopolitical environments, industry innovation, and sustainability. Notably, the members elected Benoît des Cressonnières (Allianz Trade) as the President for the 2023/2024 term, succeeding Kay Scholz (R+V Re) after his successful two-year tenure. Furthermore, Jan Mueller (Hannover Re) was elected as the Vice-President for the same period.

ICISA welcomed three new members to its network: AIG from the United States, Peak Re from Hong Kong, and Active Re from Barbados. Richard Wulff, Executive Director of ICISA said, “We are very pleased to welcome three new members to the ICISA network and proud to see the growing interest in the association. As a global industry association, we undertake to represent all companies working in the trade credit insurance and surety sectors and their reinsurance partners throughout the world. 

From the insurance side, AIG has been an important and innovative player in our market for a very long time. We feel strongly that AIG’s membership of ICISA is beneficial to AIG, our association, and the industry at large.

From the Reinsurance side, with Peak Re and Active Re on board, we now count 19 reinsurance members among our ranks providing an important perspective from the reinsurance sector, which is critical to trade credit insurance and surety lines much in need of strong partnerships to support the development of our business and secure the trade and achievement of projects across the globe.

With their expertise, in-depth knowledge and experience worldwide, all three new members will bring considerable industry expertise and fresh ideas to our table; diversifying our membership and making our voice even stronger.”

Surety highlights:

•    Insured exposure increased by 11% to €912 billion (2021: € 824 billion)

•    Premium written increased to by 13% to € 6.8 billion (2021: € 6.1 billion)

•    Total claims paid increased by 8% to € 1.2 billion (2021: € 1.1 billion)

Trade Credit Insurance highlights:

•    Insured exposure (coverage to policyholders) increased by 20%, reaching €3.2 trillion (2021: €2.7 trillion)

•    Premium written saw an increase 13% of €7.8 billion in 2022 (2021: €6.9 billion)

•    Claims paid increased by 66% to €2.5 billion in 2022 (2021: €1.5 billion) 

Single risk/Political risk:

•    Insured exposure reached €56 billion growing by 24.5% (2021: €45 billion)

•    Premium written rose by 27% to €361 million (2021: €284 million)

•    Total claims paid over 2022 more than tripled to €100 million (2021: €31 million)