Business Excellence 2019

16 Acquisition International - 2019 Business Excellence Awards For more than a century, Euler Hermes Asia Pacific has invested in people and technology as well as financial, operational and market data to feed powerful predictive analytics and business intelligence. Today the firm’s unique knowledge of companies, industries and countries will help clients to choose the right customers and the right markets to avoid bad debt in the first place, as we found out when we profile it and explore how it came to win one of our prestigious Business Excellence for 2019. Euler Hermes Asia Pacific: stablished in 1883, Euler Hermes has since flourished and today has an international presence and a vast service offering. Being part of Allianz Group, Euler Hermes offers over 125 years of trade credit insurance service to help protect customers’ business, including multi-national corporations, banks and SMEs, against the unexpected commercial and political risks that exist in most economic sectors. Trade credit insurance includes a broad spectrum of services, including risk management for customers, credit control on behalf of its policy holders, risk mitigation, claims, debt collection, and the firm offers all of these, drawing on its team’s vast industry experience to offer them award-winning support and service. This dedicated team of experts do their utmost to protect their customers’ trade receivables. As part of this focus, Euler Hermes underwrites their credit risk, continuously assess and follow up on the debtors and gives them access to important information from legal matters to market conditions. Trade credit insurance allows the firm’s customers to benefit from better protection on cash flow, opportunities for sales expansion and enhanced financing availability. It is this professional and dynamic team that is the secret to Euler Hermes’ success, and as such the firm constantly aims to create a culture and an atmosphere that is crucial to retain, motivate and engage its people. Every team member worldwide can continue their education using the e-learning programmes in the firm’s training academy. This inspires innovation, the skills needed to progress, and skills to perfect for a leadership role. The firm also offers mentoring programmes with its board members, regional CEOs and senior leaders. As a result of this range of initiatives Euler Hermes is able to operate a truly diverse, engaging and inclusive workplace that ensures it retains the best talent in the credit risk market. Thanks to its global presence and expertise, Euler Hermes has valuable insight which allows it to provide its clients with advice and insight on risk experience worldwide. Despite this, there are always unexpected challenges, and when they do arrive the firm’s customers can be confident they are fully protected. E Among the firm’s focuses is its dedication to supporting new markets and providing clients with innovative solutions that meet their needs. With an office in the Asia Pacific region Euler Hermes is able to meet the region’s need for quality credit risk support. After all, trade credit insurance is crucial in helping companies identify sales opportunities, grow their business and protect cash flow. However, only approximately 5% of businesses in APAC buy trade credit insurance, compared to 15% market penetration rate in Western Europe. The main alternative to trade credit insurance in APAC is self- insurance, a practice many businesses opt for. Businesses can put a reserve on their balance sheet to cover any bad debt that may incur over the year. However, this is not a very capital efficient solution and a very risk alternative. Bad debts can be a particular problem for SMEs, quickly leading to financial distress. Chronic cash flow difficulties often begin when a customer pays late or simply does not pay at all. In other instances, a customer may have entered insolvency themselves, which leads not only to non-payment of an invoice, but to a lack of future work for sub- contractors and suppliers. Through its presence in the Asia Pacific region Euler Hermes works alongside its clients to overcome these challenges and provide them with the services they need but cannot find elsewhere. Over recent years the firm has launched a number of initiatives to drive it to even greater success and better support its valued clients. For example, Euler Hermes’s True Customer Centricity (TCC) initiative is launched to map out its customers’ needs and provide a tailored solution which best addresses them. Also, the firm’s Zero Defect initiative measures the firm’s performance at all touch points that its customers offer. The firm’s team believe that this initiative is essential as a quest for perfection in order to improve its quality of service, and as such it is a key part of its ongoing focus on excellence. Best Credit Insurance Solutions Provider 2019 - Asia Pacific Company: Euler Hermes Asia Pacific Contact: May Yu Website: www.eulerhermes.com