Urba360 is a dynamic business information tool with six key indicators to help you evaluate trade partners. We asked Andrew Share, Coface’s Group Solutions Engineering Director, to explain how it works and what makes it unique.
What is Urba360 and what sets it apart?
URBA stands for Universal Risk Business Assessment and it’s a powerful business information platform which enables you to assess and monitor your buyers, suppliers and other trade partners.
It’s the only platform which gives you access to Coface’s unique risk data and analysis on more than 230 million companies worldwide. As a trade credit insurer for more than 75 years, we stand by the quality of our data and underwriting expertise and now our clients can benefit from our unique insights.
What’s the story behind Urba360?
We wanted to condense the vast amount of business information held on Coface’s global database and the expert risk assessments from our analysts and underwriters into one risk analysis platform which provides a 360o view of any company.
Clients told us they wanted to be able to make a quick assessment about whether they could work with a trade partner, without having to wade through the 50 pages of detailed information that they might get in a typical business report. The challenge for our team was to design an intuitive user interface which instantly visualised the risk indicators that clients said were most important.
The result is the Urba360 wheel which summarises our risk data into a simple ‘traffic light’ system. Each segment of the wheel represents a key risk indicator and is colour-coded green, amber or red. If you search for a company and the wheel is mainly red, then it’s a clear indication that there’s a problem but if it’s green or a mix of green and amber then it may give you more confidence.
As well as saving you a lot of time compared with conventional business reports, you also have the option to click in each segment of the wheel to access more Coface insights to support your decision-making.
Talk us through the segments on the Urba360 Wheel - what different insights are available?
Each of the six segments on the wheel reflects a different aspect of company risk:
1. Score – our standardised score from 0 to 10 which reflects the company’s probability of default over a 12-month period – the lower the score, the higher the risk. Unique is that it is the same scale worldwide allowing our customers trading beyond borders to assess risks globally.
2. Credit opinion – the maximum amount of individual exposure recommended based on our underwriting expertise and considering factors like current financial performance, historical data, future forecasts and insights from our risk analysts.
3. Financial ratios – we compare a company’s financial performance against other businesses in their peer group using the international Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). Up to 24 ratios including profitability, financial structure and liquidity.
4. Late payment index – Coface’s observation of the company’s payment behaviour of 50,000+ clients.
5. Country risk – our assessment of the relative strength of a company’s home country using macroeconomic, financial and political data and payment experience. The scale ranges from A1 (very low risk) to E (extreme risk).
6. Sector risk – our assessment of global risk trends within the company’s sector on a scale from low risk to very high.
How does Urba360 help businesses respond to changes in trade risk?
One of the biggest advantages of Urba360 is that it’s a moving picture and not just a snapshot, which is really important when we’re living through such a volatile economic and geopolitical period.
The sheer volume of data that is being fed into our system 24/7/365 from our credit insurance insights and our global partners ensure that our internal risk assessments, credit scores and underwriting decisions are based on the latest real-world trading information. This includes late payment incidents. While we’ll typically see seasonal peaks and troughs, the trend in late payment closely reflects the economic cycle so an uptick in a particular sector or country is a reliable indicator that there will be a rise in insolvencies after a time lag of about 6 to 12 months.
As an Urba360 user you can also benefit from these early warnings to support your credit management. For example, the credit score shows a company’s probability of default in a 12-month period – not its probability of failure – so you have enough time to react, such as setting up pro-forma payments or moving to a different supplier. You can be kept updated of changes to a company’s credit score and click into the relevant segment of the wheel to see whether it has improved or declined over the past two years to help determine whether a trading partner is stable, improving or on a downward trajectory.
How can companies make use of the financial ratios available on Urba360?
It’s really informative to see how a company compares with its peers in the same sector across a number of benchmarks, whether you’re looking into the financial strength of a company or if you’re trying to select one supplier to work with from a pool of several companies with a reasonable credit score. And I’ve also heard some companies are using this peer-to-peer comparison to see how they fare within their own sector.
The financial ratios show how we’re trying to build as many features and insights as possible into Urba360 to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of clients. That’s because we recognise that everyone has their own tolerance for risk and attaches significance to different things. For instance, a company that is cash generative and enjoys high margins may have a higher tolerance for risk compared to a company that is operating to a very tight margin.
What’s been the response from clients and what’s next?
Since launching Urba360 in 2023, we’ve seen exponential growth from existing business information users who have migrated to the platform and an influx of brand-new clients. Most use it as a standalone tool to monitor and manage their trade counterparties but some of our larger clients have integrated it with their own ERPs via an API so they can utilise our data and insights for decision-making and seeking new customers.
The feedback from our clients has been really positive but we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re enhancing the platform with new functionality over the coming months to make searching for the right company and the main stakeholders easier. For example, we’ve partnered with the London Stock Exchange which means we can offer screening for Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and sanctions within Urba360 from Autumn 2025. Whether you want to assess your prospective customers, supply chain, or potential markets, we want Urba360 to be a risk analysis tool which covers all bases.
How can businesses find out more?
I’d recommend getting in touch with Coface who can talk you through the features and answer your questions. While Urba360 is going to be the ideal fit for most businesses, our Business Information team will also go the extra mile to meet your specific needs.
