Despite the economic outlook and uncertainties, insurance coverage for trade reaches new peaks in 2020.
Trade Insurance
- Insured exposure was € 2.4 trillion in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, thereby supporting world trade.
- Premium written was € 6.3 billion in 2020 compared to € 6.9 billion in 2019 at constant FX rates.
- This decrease shows the effects of Covid-19 early in 2020, capacity at the end of 2020 is now roughly equal to the capacity of 2019.
- Claims paid increased by 12% to € 3.8 billion.
- Claims ratio 2020: 60% (in 2019: 48%).
Surety
- Insured exposure increased by 16% to € 679 billion.
- Premium written was € 5.2 billion compared to € 5 billion in 2019 at constant FX rates.
- Total claims paid over 2020 was € 1.4 billion.
- Claims ratio 2020: 28% (2019: 27%).
Discussions at the 79th Annual General Meeting of ICISA members (June 2021)
- Mr. Kay Scholz (R+V Re) and Mr. Benoît des Cressonnières (Euler Hermes) were elected as President and Vice President respectively.
- Tryg Garanti was appointed as a member of the Management Committee.
- ICISA was happy to welcome GreenStars BNP Paribas S.A. as our new member.
Given the extraordinary situation caused by the pandemic, the members of the International Credit Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA) met virtually for their 79th Annual General Meeting (AGM).
During the AGM, the membership elected Kay Scholz (R+V Re) as President for 2021/22 and Benoît des Cressonnières (Euler Hermes) as Vice President for the same period.
Following the retirement of Mr. Rob Nijhout, Richard Wulff was confirmed as the new Executive Director of ICISA.
Richard Wulff said:
“I am humbled by the confidence placed in me by the members of this great association. The team and I have started new business initiatives to be of service to our members. Most of all, we want to bring the membership together in order to learn from each other. Having seen the cooperation and common learning fills me with pride to be able to contribute to ICISA for the good of our industry and the economy at large.”
The industry results of 2020 reflect the impact of the significant government intervention in a number of markets to counteract the effect of the Covid19 pandemic. This has included direct support to the real economy in the form of equity support, direct grants, furlough schemes, as well as deferred tax deadlines. Some markets also introduced deferrals of insolvency declarations. State reinsurance schemes were also introduced in some locations to encourage the continued availability of credit insurance. While these schemes gave early comfort to credit insurance to maintain cover, the reduction in insolvencies stemming from the wider government interventions meant that claims through such schemes were much lower than expected, with related costs from administering schemes also incurred.
As a result, claims from insolvencies and non-payments were lower than normal in many markets with high levels of government support. However, on a global level, claims were up in comparison to last year reflecting that government intervention was not universal. Premium and exposure remained at high levels despite some necessary reductions, also reflecting the economic impact of government interventions in support of the real economy.
Due to the amount of governmental spending on infrastructure in many countries where our members offer their products, there is a great deal of optimism on Surety in the upcoming years.
