With credit insurance, we are now able to go into very difficult markets and capture a larger market share
Aims
SABIC’s main Credit Insurance aim is to expand their share of established markets and to develop their presence in more difficult areas. As a global company, SABIC engages in large volume trade across many different markets including some less established ones.
As their global partner, SABIC approached us to support them through underwriting their risk and providing market knowledge about potential customers. Ms D.D. Lim, Global Credit & Insurance Specialist at SABIC explained: “We began insuring one or two Asian customers from our HQ in Saudi Arabia and have built up from there to expand across our whole portfolio in South East Asia.
“With credit insurance, we are now able to go into very difficult markets and capture a larger market share.”
Our role
Our role is to support SABIC in meeting their company’s strict credit policies by underwriting risk and affording them the freedom to extend credit to new customers.
Ms Lim described how this gave them the confidence to expand their presence in difficult markets. “It is kind of like having an endorsement from Atradius itself”, she explained.
She added that the Atradius Credit Insurance supports SABIC “because we know who we are dealing with and we know Atradius actually underwrite the risk, and therefore if they say something is ok we can be quite certain that what we are doing is right.”
Citing Vietnam as an example Ms Lim went on to explain how Atradius was able to help them capture a larger market share by underwriting their risk. “In Asia we have very stringent credit controls, so for the Vietnam market, for example, we have no open accounts. We only have secured accounts or letters of credit (LC).
“With these LCs, most of the time they have to be confirmed by a bank, but what we did was bring this whole lot of LCs to Atradius and got them to underwrite the limits and the risk itself. As a result, we are enjoying a sizeable market share in Vietnam thanks to the insuring of these LCs.”
Outcomes
We place a huge emphasis on customer service. In the case of SABIC we enjoy a very close working relationship across the board.
As Ms Lim said: “I have been working with the Singapore office and they provide excellent support to meet my needs and answer my requests. If I need further support I call Jasmine, my Account Manager. She really helps to push for the limits we request and she goes to great lengths to help me out, especially in urgent cases.
“Our key Account Underwriter is also very helpful to us. With anything that cannot be resolved by our Account manager we approach the key Underwriter and he is usually able to help. I think being able to respond quickly, within the right timeframe, is very important in an insurer.
At the end of the day, whoever has the better coverage and service will win the deal.”
Our work with SABIC extends beyond underwriting and credit limits and assessing potential clients. We also pride ourselves on providing clients with a seamless claim process.
“I am in the middle of doing a claim right now for my Asia portfolio,” said Ms Lim. “It is actually a breeze. We have complied with whatever is required, document-wise, from the beginning when we knew there was something not right with that customer. So we have been enjoying close cooperation and communication with Atradius. They really deliver what they promise. It’s not difficult working with Atradius on a claim.”
About SABIC Asia Pacific
SABIC is the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chemicals, fertilizers, plastics and metals.
Ranked among the world’s largest petrochemicals manufacturers, SABIC is a public company listed in Saudi Arabia, with 70% of the shares controlled by the Saudi Arabian government, based in Riyadh.
Founded in 1976 by royal decree, it now has operations in the Middle East, Asia, America and Europe.