Kemiex and Atradius expand trade insurance to 130 countries

The strategic cooperation between credit insurance Atradius and the Zurich based startup Kemiex dates back to 2018 when the two companies co-developed and digital and intelligent trade credit insurance solution for buyers, traders and producers of raw materials and chemicals in human and animal nutrition and health industries. Atradius's credit insurance, bond and collection products protect companies around the world against the default risks associated with selling goods and services on credit.

Today, the B2B trade platform, operated by Kemiex, counts more than 2000 users and a client base that has doubled in the past 12 months. In October 2021 alone, USD 218m worth of raw materials were offered through the platform. Transaction volumes doubled quarterly, given a volatile market environment for vitamins, amino acids, and other active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The average monthly transaction sizes vary between CHF 34’000 and CHF 112’000.

STCI for companies worldwide
Initially providing Single transaction cover insurance (STCI) to selected companies, the two are expanding their reach. Buyers in more than 130 countries worldwide can now benefit from STCI offered via the Kemiex platform. STCI, available via the platform, is an additional service for sellers of bulk volumes that do not have a more common annual whole turnover policy with a trade credit insurance company or for countries and buyers not included in an existing policy.

Enabled by intelligent algorithms and big data analytics, the new technology determines the insurance premium to cover proposed payment terms, allocates the capacity until a buyer confirms a transaction and manages post-trade procedures with the credit insurance.

Credit insurance underwriting traditionally focuses on annual turnovers and a portfolio of buyers, as risk and balance-sheet management for large bulk transactions require comprehensive knowledge and capital reserves. In Kemiex, most transactions between buyers, distributors and manufacturers are agreed for full container loads (FCL) with average volumes above 20’000 kg per transaction. To offer comparable efficiency benefits to Atradius clients with an existing annual policy, these companies can directly use their own current policies to insure the transactions on the platform, with the same pricing and conditions, a novelty for the trade credit insurance industry.

“After 2.5 years of working on this offer to clarify all legal aspects, we are very proud to now provide credit insurance to a wider clientele worldwide. Previously only a handful of companies and Altradius clients in Europe were benefiting from the service. All companies can henceforth have added security for their trading activities. Furthermore, this is a major step for our company, reflecting the maturity of our platform and the growing demand for embedded insurance and supply chain financing by B2B marketplaces”, said Pau Franquet, CEO of Kemiex.

(Press release/RAN)