Atradius : Everything you need to know

Atradius: Everything you need to know

Headquarters address	David Ricardostraat 1, 1066 JS Amsterdam, Netherlands
Year established	1925
Size (employees)	3,650
Global locations	Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam
Gross written premium	€1.74 billion (2021)
Insurance premium revenue	€1.9 billion (2021)
Underwriting expertise	Credit insurance, reinsurance
Key people	David Capdevila (CEO), Andreas Tesch (chief market officer), Christian van Lint (chief risk officer), Claus Gramlich-Eicher (chief financial officer), Marc Henstridge (chief insurance operations officer)

About Atradius

The Atradius Group, a wholly owned company of Grupo Catalana Occidente S.A., specialises in trade credit insurance, surety, and debt collections, with a presence in more than 160 offices in over 50 countries worldwide. Atradius has access to credit information of about 200 million companies globally. It offers solutions that help protect these companies from payment risks associated with selling products and services on credit.

In 2021, Atradius registered a customer retention rate of 93%. That same year, it also received an A-rating for financial stability from A.M. Best and an A2-rating from Moody’s in February 2022.

Brief history

Atradius traces its roots from Nederlandsche Credietverzekering Maatschappij (NCM), which was established in the Netherlands in 1925. At that time, the company was founded with the goal of improving trade for companies within the country. This business plan was sealed in 1932 when NCM partnered with the Dutch government to provide export credit services to domestic companies on behalf of the state. This relationship continues to exist today through its affiliate Atradius Dutch State Business.

In Germany, Atradius’ roots stem from Gerling-Konzern Speziale Kreditversicherung (Gerling Credit), which was established in 1954 as the credit insurance arm of the Gerling Group. Gerling Credit operated solely out of the country until 1962 when it opened its first international branch in Switzerland. Gerling Credit was the first private credit insurer to offer export credit protection.

In 2001, Gerling NCM was established through the merger of Gerling Credit and NCM. The company was rebranded as Atradius in 2004. At that time, a group of leading international financial institutions, including Swiss Re and Deutsche Bank, Sal. Oppenheim, Seguros Catalana Occidente – a leading Spanish financial services company – and Crédito y Caución replaced the Gerling Group as shareholder.

In 2008, Atradius again entered a major business union teaming up with Crédito y Caución to further strengthen its position in global credit insurance markets. At that time, Grupo Catalana Occidente S.A. became the major shareholder of Atradius.

Leadership at Atradius

David Capdevila – CEO

Capdevila was appointed chairman of the management board and CEO of Atradius in January 2020. He joined Grupo Catalana Occidente in 1992 as director for organisation and quality and also assumed various responsibilities in Grupo Catalana Occidente S.A. and other entities within the group. Capdevila has held several leadership roles within the group, including as general manager of Crédito y Caución from 2006 to 2013, chief market officer and member of the management board of Atradius N.V. from 2008 to 2013, and CEO of Plus Ultra Seguros from 2016 to 2019.

Capdevila has a degree in Actuarial Economics from the University of Barcelona and an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona.

Culture at Atradius

Atradius supports the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour conditions, environment, and anti-corruption. Every year, the company reports to the UN Global Compact on its continued commitment and the progress the firm is making in all areas of corporate responsibility.

“Atradius’ commitment to behave ethically incorporates social, environmental, and financial prosperity,” said Capdevila. “The contribution we make is meant to help strengthen social welfare and build a better environment.”

Atradius also uses input from its stakeholders to define the company’s “most material issues,” which are plotted in its Materiality Matrix. In addition, the firm has a dedicated corporate responsibility team consisting of representatives from its offices around the world. The role of these team members is to coordinate group activities, identify issues, and support the development of Atradius’ corporate responsibility policy.

Local activities are coordinated by local teams. This gives the company’s staff the opportunity to contribute to local environmental and community needs. Recent examples of these endeavours include participation in a Clean Up Australia initiative by members of its Sydney office and a tree-planting project in the Czech Republic, which involved two groups of volunteers that cleared a preserved area in the Prokopské Valley in Prague and planted more than 100 beech trees.