Press Release: Coface becomes first international credit insurer to receive Russian insurance license
June 9, 2010
Paris - June 9, 2010 - The Russian state authority for insurance (FSSN) has granted a license to Coface' subsidiary "ZAO Coface Rus Insurance company" based in Moscow. Coface is the first international credit insurer to obtain its license in Russia. The Russian credit insurance market is currently estimated at €40m and Coface is already one of the four major players, offering credit insurance for four years due to a technical agreement with its local partner, Kapital. Coface is now able to deliver its own credit insurance offer. This new organization will benefit both the clients and Coface with:
- An increased quality of service for its clients, especially for Russian subsidiaries of international companies, notably French and German, and an easier access of Russian companies to Coface credit insurance expertise.
- An improved control of risks for Coface.
Didier Bourgeois, Country Manager for Russia confirms, "Coface's ambition is to become market leader in trade receivables management in Russia, thanks to its worldwide presence, deep knowledge of local risks and large 'bouquet of services' offered to Russian and international customers". A unique "one-stop shop" for all credit management needs in Russia
This new license widens Coface's presence in Russia, where all Coface products are now available. There are currently 60 people working in Coface's Moscow headquarters and in an office in St Petersburg. Coface first established a company in Russia 18 years ago, "Coface Rus Services", to offer credit management services: business information, and debt collection. Coface already compiles information on 600,000 Russian companies. Coface also produces credit ratings on Russian companies and recently took full control of its Russian rating company, buying back 100% of the shares. This move supports Coface's worldwide strategy to become the first global European rating agency. Regarding its factoring activities, since July 2008 Coface has joined forces with a leader in the Russian market, National Factoring Company (NFC). The agreement involves the servicing by NFC of Coface's factoring clients in Russia and conversely the servicing by Coface of NFC's clients outside Russia. Country risk rating: Russia under positive watch
Coface's main mission is to support the real economy by providing protection for intercompany trade. Coface already insures € 2.2 billion of supplier credits extended to 10,000 Russian companies. Through the development of credit insurance and services in Russia, Coface also wants to facilitate access to reliable information on companies. Russia has been severely hit by the crisis and Coface saw its payment experience deteriorate sharply up until the end of 2009. Coface expects the Russian economy to record positive but moderate growth of 4% in 2010 (after -7.9% in 2009), due to the upturn in the oil prices and capital inflows after several months of lost confidence. In April, Coface placed the country risk rating of Russia (C) under positive watch. (The Coface country risk rating is not a sovereign rating, but rather reflects the extent to which a country's economic, financial, and political outlook influences financial commitments of Russian private companies). Nonetheless, the Russian economy faces structural weaknesses in private governance. Coface publishes a business climate rating, which assesses how risky it is to do business in a country based upon the quality of information available on companies, and the legal protection given to creditors. In this field, Russia is rated B, the lowest of the BRIC countries. The average transparency of Russian corporate accounts and the efficiency and fairness of creditor rights in Russia leave room for improvement. North American press contact: Sue Hinton / Tel. (212) 389-6484 / E-mail. sue_hinton@coface.com About Coface
Coface's mission is to facilitate global business-to-business trade by offering its 130,000 customers four business lines to fully or partly outsource trade relationship management and to finance and protect their receivables: credit insurance, factoring, ratings and business information and receivables management. Due to the worldwide local service delivered by 6,600 staff in 67 countries, over 45% of the world's 500 largest corporate groups are already customers of Coface. Coface is a subsidiary of Natixis whose share capital (Tier 1) was 12.7 billion Euros at the end of December 2009. Learn more at www.coface-usa.com.
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