Atradius restores cover for Insight Enterprises

Credit insurer reverses move to withdraw cover from corporate reseller

Fenton: Atradius did not interpret our results as well as it could have done

Atradius has restored credit insurance cover for Insight Enterprises after resolving an apparent misunderstanding over the corporate reseller’s third-quarter results.

The world’s second largest trade credit insurer withdrew Insight’s cover earlier this month, mirroring Euler Hermes’ decision to halve the US-based firm’s cover in early April.

But suppliers of Insight were told full cover had been restored yesterday.

Stuart Fenton, president for EMEA and AsiaPac at Insight, argued that Atradius had not interpreted its Q3 results “as well as it could have done”.

“We went through the results with them a couple of times and consequently cover was restored,” he explained.

“None of our partners pulled cover and as a result we have been trading as normal,” he said.

Atradius claims to be the world’s second largest trade credit insurer, with 31 per cent market share.

But Fenton said the debacle was unlikely to have any impact on the stance of Euler Hermes – the credit insurance industry’s largest outfit.

“Euler understood our results well,” he said. “It reduced cover to our level of spend [with suppliers].”

An Atradius spokesman said: "Upon analysis of Insight's 2008 trading figures, we have reviewed our underwriting strategy pertaining to the group and reinstated cover, albeit under slightly different conditions.

"We cannot stress strongly enough the benefits of being as open as possible with your supplier's trade credit insurer. In this case, Insight's ability to explain certain elements of its results helped alter our perspective."