Credit Insurance- Protect Your A/R

These days, many companies are faced with numerous risks such as cyber security threats, government investigations, scandals, onerous litigation, etc.  These threats and others of course pose a great risk to the long term viability of a company.  Manufacturing companies as well as distributors face the added burden of dealers and retailers declaring insolvency or refusing to pay their debts as they become due for a number of reasons.  Fortunately, commercial credit risk insurance, sometimes called “trade” credit risk insurance, can help a company protect its account receivables (A/R) from unexpected losses due to nonpayment or slow payment by the company’s buyers or debtors. It usually covers nonpayment because of a buyer’s insolvency but may also cover nonpayment due to political events that hinder payment or distributors on credit. A/R is the money owed to a company by its customer for products and services sold on credit. Normally, a sale is only treated as an account receivable after the customer has been invoiced for the product or service.

Depending on the industry and size of the company, it may or may not sell many or all of its products via credit. The risk, therefore, of nonpayment or slow payment (90 or 180 days after invoice, etc.) can be quite serious and expose the company to a potential crisis if the A/R is not paid. This is a major concern for any company selling product on credit.

In fact, on a number of occasions, I had to deal with bankruptcy issues because dealers and retailers of the  company I worked for declared bankruptcy.  Because we had a sound risk management program in place, one that also had credit insurance, we were not exposed to the extent of other creditors that had failed to obtain credit insurance.  So even though the company I worked for was one of the major unsecured creditors, it exposure was primarily the deductible it had to pay as part of the insurance coverage.

Types of Credit Risks

Credit risk insurance normally covers two kinds of risk: commercial risk and political risk.

Commercial risk

• • Insolvency or bankruptcy
  • Protracted nonpayment
  • Default of customer

Note:  Credit risk insurance will not usually cover nonpayment due to contractual or legal disputes between the company and customer.

• Political risk
  • War, strikes or other potential civil disturbances
  • Repatriation concerns: decision by the government not to allow repatriation or release of the funds
  • Transfer risk: political events including wars or political disputes preventing transfer of payment

Benefits of Credit Insurance

There are numerous benefits for using credit insurance, if applicable. The most obvious benefits are:

Transfer or mitigation of risk. Credit insurance assures a company that its A/R will be paid if one of its customers declares bankruptcy or is unable to pay. This is subject to the terms and conditions of the insurance policy.

• Improved cash flow. A timely collection of A/R provides much-needed operating cash flow.
• By using credit insurance, a company is able to extend more credit to its primary customers, promoting increased sales. This can be cyclical, allowing increased turnover of products and, therefore, increased sales.

When a company initially sets up its risk management processes it should pay attention to credit insurance or trade insurance if that insurance is available in its industry and for the products its sells.  It is another way of transferring risk when debtors are unable to pay outstanding A/R.  Remember, insurance is a way of transferring risk.  Use it.

When managing risk consider insurance

Though most people don’t consider how risky everyday life can be, most companies and organizations understand that risk exists around every corner.  The trouble is that some companies still do not take adequate steps to properly manage risk.  Consider the recent incident of the executive who died via a treadmill accident when he hit his head.  Though the accident was a freak accident- nonetheless it happened.  If you drill down a little closer, you will find out that fatalities related to exercise and sports are not that uncommon. Perhaps they are more common than we would like to believe.   Everyday life, whether business related or not, carries a certain amount of risk.  Though companies may use insurance to manage risk, the problem arises when the insurance program in place doesn’t really address the potential risks the company faces.  That is the problem many companies dont realize until it is too late- say after that catastrophe that wiped out the stock or assets of the company.

It should be noted that companies use insurance as a risk mitigation or transfer tool and that they manage insurance programs differently than the average consumer. However, when developing a risk assessment of insurance considerations, data is extremely important when considering a probability or a risk-related event. The collection of relevant data will determine what kind of insurance policies can be obtained, the price, and even the availability of certain insurance programs. How far back a company can go historically to obtain data determines the potential risks a company faces and, therefore, what insurance program and insurance provider is available as well as the costs involved.

When looking at risk insurance programs, the first question that should be asked by the company is whether it has accurate data. Does it have a good risk management information system in place? If not, does its insurance broker or provider have one? Or maybe the insurance broker or provider can help develop one.

Accurate data leads to the right risk management strategy and the right insurance program. Lack of data makes it harder to have an accurate picture as to the risks involved and, therefore, harder to develop the appropriate insurance strategy and program. It is necessary to obtain accurate historical data if at all possible.

The main reason that companies make extensive use of insurance coverage is to diversify and shift risk through use of business-related insurance. Insurance, if properly used and maintained  can be a major risk management tool.

A major issue facing companies when trying to insure legal risk is the insurability of the risk. In essence, the cost of insuring the risk may be too great to justify the particular form of risk insurance. So when a risk assessment identifies a business risk, not only does the company need to determine if insurance coverage exists to cover the risk, but whether the cost of such insurance justifies its acquisition. Many manufacturing companies will not purchase product recall insurance or similar insurance because of its expense. Some manufacturing companies or organizations will not even purchase credit insurance because of its expense. Therefore, a company  or corporation must pay attention to costs and consider methods to reduce the cost of insurance.

Questions you should ask yourself when considering insurance:

1. Is the risk analysis accurate?
2. Can the current insurance coverage adequately minimize risk?
3. Are the insurance policies in effect priced correctly?
4. Does the cost of the insurance policy justify its acquisition?
5. How to best use insurance as a risk management tool to transfer risk?
6. Is the broker giving sound advice?

As with anything, asking the right questions is half of the battle.

1. Major provisions that were amended

Due to the Credit Card Company Data Breach, the MGAHA added a number of safeguards to the Standards and also stipulated new security measures for mobile devices.

More specifically, the Standards contain a new provision that requires data handlers to specify information on the management/supervision of Outsourced Providers in their internal administrative plans if the processing of personal information is outsourced to the Outsourced Provider.  Although this principle was emphasized in the Personal Information Protection Act, it was not explicitly stated in the previous version of the Standards.  However, due to the significance of the matter, the MGAHA is presumed to have included it in the Standards amended this time around.

This section on access control has seen the most change, with some of the major provisions summarized below:

• Stricter user authentication process: data handlers are now required to implement additional authentication measures when verifying a user’s identity online through use of the user’s name or resident registration number (“RRN”).
• Security measures required for mobile devices as well: in addition to personal information processing systems (“PIPSs”) and work computers, mobile devices must also be equipped with the appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being leaked to outside third parties.
• Vulnerability assessment for particular identification data (“PID”): data handlers who process PID are required to conduct a vulnerability assessment at least once a year to prevent PID from being leaked, falsified, or damaged through their internet websites.

1. Implications of the Amended Standards

1. Stricter obligation for data handlers in managing/supervising Outsourced Providers

As evidenced by the Credit Card Company Data Breach and other recent data breaches, the risk of misuse/abuse and leakage of personal information has increased greatly as more and more data handlers outsource the processing of personal information but fail to oversee the Outsourced Providers’ compliance with data protection laws and regulations.  There is now a stricter obligation for data handlers to manage Outsourced Providers. 

1. Stricter security requirements for mobile devices

In light of the fact that it is now becoming more and more common for people to conduct business on their mobile devices, the Standards were amended to include “mobile devices” and therefore data handlers who intend to process personal information with a mobile device will need to confirm that the mobile devices of their employees and officers satisfy the security requirements for mobile devices set forth in the Standards.

There are other major changes in Korean data privacy laws, regulations and financial control laws as well that help tighten up the use and protection of data.  Those will be a topic for another day.

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