Trade credit insurance in Belgium: how it works, what it costs and who offers it
Tips
The short answer
Trade credit insurance (kredietverzekering or handelskredietverzekering in Dutch) pays you most of an invoice when an insured business customer goes bankrupt or does not pay. The policy covers all your B2B turnover or a chosen group of customers, and the insurer sets a credit limit per customer: the most it will cover on that name. When a customer fails, the insurer pays an agreed share of the loss, usually 80% to 95% according to the European Commission, after a waiting period set in the policy. The premium is usually a share of turnover: Coface puts its typical range at 0.1% to 1% for companies above 7.5 million euros, while fixed SME packages from Allianz Trade and Coface start at 2,350 and 2,500 euros. Febelfin lists four credit insurers active in Belgium: Allianz Trade, Atradius, Coface and Credendo.
Figures come from the insurers' own Belgian pages, Febelfin, Credendo and the European Commission's Your Europe portal, read on 1 October 2026. General information, not insurance or legal advice.
How a credit insurance policy works
Credit limits are set by the insurer
For every prospect or existing customer, Atradius writes, it sets a credit limit: the maximum outstanding invoice amount within which you are insured. You request limits online, through platforms such as Atradius Atrium or Coface's CofaNet, and the insurer's analysts decide on the customer's financial situation. You can still sell above the limit, but the excess is not insured. Some policies let you decide small limits yourself; Atradius mentions this for Modula.
The premium
Atradius says you typically pay "a fraction of 1%" of your turnover. Coface says that above 7.5 million euros of turnover its premium rate "typically falls within an average range of 0.1% to 1%", depending on sector, claims history, cover and options. On 10 million euros of insured turnover, that range means 10,000 to 100,000 euros a year. For smaller companies, insurers publish fixed packages:
Coface EasyLiner: turnover up to 7.5 million euros, an all-inclusive annual price from 2,500 euros.
Allianz Trade Simplicity: B2B turnover up to 5 million euros, packages between 2,350 and 13,350 euros, customers in the Benelux, Germany, the UK and 29 other countries.
Atradius CashFirst: turnover up to 4 million euros, you choose which customers to insure, from 99 euros a month.
None of these pages states the tax basis of the price, so ask for it in writing with the quote.
Waiting period and indemnity
A bankruptcy is a claim once it is declared. Plain non-payment, where the customer keeps trading but does not pay, becomes a claim only after the waiting period. Published examples:
Allianz Trade Simplicity pays 60% of the open invoice as standard when a customer goes bankrupt or has not paid after 90 days, and up to 90% with an additional creditworthiness check.
Atradius offers up to 95% cover on Modula; CashFirst pays at the latest 60 days after the invoice due date.
Coface takes over collection when you report non-payment and pays if collection fails within the agreed timeframe.
An illustrative example: a customer with a 50,000 euros limit goes bankrupt owing you 60,000 euros. At 90% cover, the insurer pays 45,000 euros. The other 15,000 euros, the 10,000 above the limit plus your 10% share, is your loss.
Your side of the deal
The insurer pays when you have kept to the policy: declaring insured turnover, staying within limits, reporting overdue invoices within the policy's deadlines and continuing your own dunning. Insurance sits on top of a working credit process; the process itself is in credit management and DSO, and the legal steps against a late payer, including interest and the fixed 40 euros compensation, in what to do about an unpaid invoice in Belgium.
Credit insurers active in Belgium
Febelfin, the Belgian financial sector federation, names four. The products are those each insurer lists on its Belgian site.
Insurer | For SMEs | For larger companies and specific risks |
|---|---|---|
Allianz Trade | Simplicity, B2B turnover up to 5 million euros | Policy 360° for large companies; Cover One for one contract or project |
Atradius | CashFirst, up to 4 million euros; Modula First, up to 6 million euros | Modula, tailored, up to 95% cover; a multinational policy from 250 million euros |
Coface | EasyLiner, turnover up to 7.5 million euros | TradeLiner; GlobaLiner for multinationals; Single Risk |
Credendo | - | Medium and long-term export credit insurance with state guarantee; short-term cover in growth and emerging markets |
Sources: Febelfin, Allianz Trade, Atradius, Coface, Credendo.
Whole turnover or single risk
Whole turnover. The classic policy covers all, or almost all, of your B2B sales on credit, with a limit for every customer. Atradius notes the variations: sometimes you choose the customers, sometimes the policy covers your full turnover, sometimes only your largest buyers.
Single risk. One contract, project or buyer. Allianz Trade's Cover One protects against non-payment within one contract or project, including protracted default, insolvency and political risk, for contracts of up to 3 years, and is non-cancellable. Coface's Single Risk covers commercial and political risk on complex and one-off operations. It suits one large project abroad rather than a steady flow of invoices.
Export credit: private insurers and Credendo
The European Commission splits export credit insurance in two. Private insurers cover short-term transactions, usually up to 2 years, against insolvency and late payment in safe, developed markets. State-backed agencies cannot normally insure those "marketable" risks; they cover exports on terms of 2 years or more, and risks the private market will not take, such as war, sanctions or currency transfer restrictions.
Belgium's agency is Credendo Export Credit Agency, an autonomous public body under the law of 31 August 1939 and head of the Credendo group. It insures medium and long-term trade credits with state guarantee, with a focus on non-OECD countries. Its supplier credit insurance, for example, covers export contracts for capital goods or services with a down payment of at least 15%, so a credit of at most 85% of the contract value, in line with the OECD Arrangement. A group company, Credendo Trade Credit Insurance, covers short-term credit risk in growth and emerging markets.
In practice: invoices to German customers on 60-day terms belong with a private credit insurer; a machine sold outside the OECD with repayment over several years is a Credendo question.
Credit insurance, factoring or managing it yourself
Option | What it solves | What it costs you | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
Credit insurance | The loss when a customer fails or does not pay | Premium, your own share, reporting discipline | A few customers carry much of your receivables, or one failure would wipe out a year's profit |
Factoring | Cash tied up in open invoices | A fee plus interest on the advance; with recourse, unpaid invoices come back to you | Growth or long terms strain cash more than bad debt does |
In-house | Control over who gets credit and on what terms | Your time, and every loss stays with you | Many small customers, short terms, a disciplined process |
The deciding number is your margin. At a 5% net margin, a 10,000 euros bad debt takes 200,000 euros of extra sales to earn back. The more concentrated your customers and the thinner your margin, the more insurance is worth. If your problem is waiting for money rather than losing it, see how factoring works in Belgium.
Even with a policy, part of the risk stays with you: the own share, everything above a limit, and customers the insurer declines. For those you set your own exposure, and Belgian filings make that possible. In Bizzy, each Belgian company record shows up to four years of filed accounts from the National Bank, including equity, cash and working capital, next to its KBO status and Official Gazette publications by type, so a limit the insurer cuts can be read against the filings behind it. How to run a company credit check covers the free sources.
Frequently asked questions
What does credit insurance cost in Belgium? Coface puts the usual premium at 0.1% to 1% of turnover above 7.5 million euros. Small-company packages start at 2,500 euros a year for Coface EasyLiner, 2,350 euros for Allianz Trade Simplicity and 99 euros a month for Atradius CashFirst.
How much of an unpaid invoice does a credit insurer pay? Usually around 80% to 95%, says the European Commission. Allianz Trade Simplicity pays 60% as standard and up to 90%; Atradius Modula up to 95%. Amounts above the credit limit are not insured.
Can I insure one customer or contract? Yes, with single risk cover such as Allianz Trade's Cover One or Coface's Single Risk. Atradius CashFirst also lets you pick which customers to insure.
Who insures exports outside the EU? Private insurers cover short-term export credit in developed markets. Medium and long-term deals and riskier markets are the field of Credendo, Belgium's public export credit agency.
Photo: the beguinage of Kortrijk, Szilas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons