Euler Hermes tackles late or unpaid invoices with insurtech brand

Credable uses the latest insurance technology (insurtech) to tackle the problem of late or unpaid invoices. Via a fully digital platform, it offers SMEs an on-demand insurance option that can cover a single invoice or buyer.

Credable has kicked off in Sweden initially, covering Swedish companies doing business across 17 European countries, with plans to expand over time.

The platform has two main features: it provides an instant “traffic light” risk calculator for an SME’s potential customer. Once a Swedish SME has been accepted onto the platform (after having gone through a KYC identification process) it can search a database and see the creditworthiness of a firm it is about to do business with. For this, the platform uses an API (application programming interface) to access Euler Hermes data on millions of companies around the world in real time.

The user can also automatically get a quote for insurance coverage of an invoice, and instantly buy it. The platform calculates the premium cost, based on the invoice size, the payment terms offered and the credit rating of the buyer.

Credable is the first stand-alone brand that has come out of Euler Hermes Digital Agency, a project established in 2015 with the goal of partnering with innovators to better manage credit risk.

Since September 2017, Credable has undertaken tests of the beta product with potential business partners and clients, focusing on the four Nordic countries. Due to customer demand, Garnier explains, it has now added 13 more countries to the product, meaning that Swedish users can get cover for exports to countries like Italy, France and the UK.

He says they launched in Sweden for several reasons: it is an easy market to test digital innovations, while also having a number of operational advantages, such as the ease with which one can carry out KYC and customer authentication through the country’s bank ID protocol.

Credable now has 100 registered SME users. Garnier says the first goal is to expand in the Swedish market, which means continuing to open more markets in which Swedish companies can take insurance. In the medium term, the brand also plans to expand the product to other seller markets.