Credit insurance brokers Aon Trade Credit are launching an international team to support global companies in managing their receivables more proactively to prevent bad debt.

Results from Aon’s global risk management survey indicate that liquidity is one of the top ten risks for global companies in 2009. As tackling bad debt has now become a boardroom issue, the new team will assist by:

• placing global credit insurance programmes centrally to provide cover for bad debt due to customer insolvency. This will allow for consistency and efficiency, while ensuring the parent company keeps in line with corporate governance;
• providing daily advice on changing credit limits with input from the global team of 400;
• supporting insurance cover with knowledge on the risk profile of customers, access to Aon Trade Link with ratings agencies’ data and credit management tools such as Aon Trade Manager.

Andrew Child, who has over 20 years of experience in credit insurance, will be leading Aon as head of the international team in the UK. He comments: “Global CEOs and risk managers face the challenge of grasping not only how their company is operating in several countries but also the health of their customers. Bad debt could spiral from one country to hit the parent so international businesses need to adopt a more sophisticated way of monitoring cash flow. In response, our team has evolved to provide a global outlook with local contact.”

The launch of the international team forms part of Aon’s strategy to specialise in the SME, corporate and global sectors, with industry expertise in construction, paper, media, electronics, steel and food and drink.