Making smart business choices next year through Coface’s credit risk assessments will give you a competitive advantage and help you trade with confidence. Andrew Share, Group Solutions Engineering Director, explains how Coface can empower your decision-making.
It’s been a challenging year. Taxes, tariffs and rising costs have squeezed margins, dampened confidence and pushed up corporate insolvencies but you don’t have to just tread water until things improve. It’s possible to navigate your way through a ‘bear market’ and get ahead of your competitors by making timely and effective trading decisions.
The good news is that our Coface Score and trade risk insights can support your credit management, giving you the rapid insights you need to trade with confidence and grow your business in the next year.
Assessing the risk of payment default in credit risk assessment
A Coface Score is different from regular business credit ratings because it’s our unique assessment of a company’s ability to meet its financial obligations over the next 12 months, not just its current financial standing. The probability is shown on a scale of 0-10 – the lower the score, the higher the risk of payment default.
But it’s the quality of data, expertise and resources that goes into each credit risk assessment which really makes a difference:
Data driven - We go deeper than publicly filed accounts and court judgments to consider multiple risk factors, such as payment history, ownership and macroeconomic signals. To do this we use a wealth of data sources, including our own database of more than 240 million companies worldwide, notified incidents by our 100,000 credit insurance clients and our global network of information partners. As well as looking at a company’s current trading information, our historical data means we can track its performance over the past five years in most cases to make truly informed predictions.
Expertise –A global leader in credit insurance for nearly 80 years, the nature of our business demands that we employ the most talented credit analysts. Our Coface Score is built on the same data insights that our insurance teams use to make 12,000 underwriting decisions each day for our 100,000+ policyholders. It’s in our mutual interest to ensure that our assessments accurately a reflect a company’s credit risk.
Resources – Our global footprint means we can apply our standardised scoring methodology to assess companies in 200 markets so you can be sure that our Coface Score is consistent across all your domestic and international trade partners. With our team of more than 600 risk management experts, managing cases close to the risk, so we can make fast, accurate decisions and provide you with real-time updates through our powerful Urba360 risk management platform.
How to use our business assessment to improve your financial position
The insights available from Coface can elevate decision-making across your business in the year ahead. Here are six examples:
1. Minimise your exposure to a bad debt which impacts your cashflow – By showing the probability of payment default over 12 months, the Coface Score is an early warning system for high-risk customers. This gives you time to respond to a low score or sudden deterioration by pressing them to settle their account, switching to a pro-forma or minimising their credit.
2. Urba360: Maintain your margins – Leverage Urba360 to integrate risk insights about your customer base into your Expected Credit Loss (ECL) modelling. With its predictive analytics and comprehensive business data, you can refine your pricing strategy and anticipate potential risks. helping you protect profit margins even in volatile times.
3. Choose reliable suppliers – The failure of a supplier can be just as devastating as that of a customer, especially if you have paid for goods or services in advance. Use our Coface Score, combined with predictive analysis of business information, to detect weak signals and anticipate potential financial distress as part of your verification and onboarding process for suppliers.
4. Seize new opportunities –By integrating our credit risk assessments into your customer due diligence, you can quickly determine whether a promising lead is the real thing or a dud. This enables your sales team to focus on converting the best prospects with attractive terms and allows you to trade with confidence.
5. Be alert to emerging risks – Avoid destabilising financial shocks by monitoring the Coface Score of your current customers and suppliers and stay informed with our sector and country risk assessments to anticipate external factors. Our alerts will enable you to act in in time so you can take proactive steps to safeguard your business.
6. Benchmark yourself – Check how your own Coface Score compares to your peers and see what many of your suppliers see. Your Score is our assessment of your financial health, but you can take steps to optimise this by ensuring all the available information about your company is up-to-date and complete, filing accounts on time and paying accounts on time.
Ultimately, the quality of your decision-making is key to a successful and financially secure business which makes you an attractive trading partner. By leveraging our credit risk assessments, you can make informed, timely and accurate decisions which boost your finances and help you grow in 2026.
Are you ready to strengthen your credit risk assessment? Access our expert insights now, email communication_uk@coface.com
Figures correct as time of publication.
