Atradius in New Zealand is one of the leading credit insurers in the region. Based in Auckland, we have a reputation for building strong relationships with our customers and their brokers.
Providing Credit Insurance and Collections in New Zealand
Atradius New Zealand provides Credit Insurance and Collections support for local and international businesses. We support many businesses in their exports as well as in their trade with local companies and we often play an important role providing secondary collateral to banks for their client funding packages.
We also operate with a team of strategically located experts around the APAC region. These experts include commercial underwriters, risk underwriters, claim administrators, account managers, debt collection specialists and other technical support staff.
Management and representatives in New Zealand and Australia
Farook Mohammad, Country Manager, New Zealand
Farook Mohammad is the Country Manager for New Zealand and joined Atradius in October 2017.
He has over 16 years of experience in the industry and previously worked at QBE for 10 years in the customer service and underwriting teams and spent six and a half years as a boker with Aon.
Farook is driven to get the best outcome for his customers by providing optimal coverage that is cost effective. His priority is providing proactive, efficient and tailored solutions. Farook holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Masters in Finance.
Mark Hoppe, Managing Director - Sydney
Mark has more than 17 years of experience working in the insurance industry. His career began as a broker in 1997 where he then moved from an assistant broker role to the position of NSW State Manager.
His career at Atradius began in Sydney in 2006 as the Head of Client Service, which saw him responsible for all the day to day client and broker issues. In 2011 he transitioned into the role of Head of New Business for Atradius Australia. In October 2012 Mark then moved to the USA to take the role of Executive Manager Global NAFTA. He then became Managing Director for Oceania August 2014.
Based in Sydney, Mark holds an MBA from the University of Technology.
Mary Ibrahim, Head of Client Services & Account Management - Sydney
Mary Ibrahim heads the Client Services and Account Management team in NSW and QLD and has overall responsibility for Marketing.
Mary, who is based in Sydney, has over 25 years’ experience in credit insurance. She graduated from Sydney University with an Economics Degree and Macquarie University with a Master’s Degree in Economics and International Finance. Prior to this Mary worked at the Export Finance & Insurance Corporation (EFIC) responsible for various roles in the credit insurance business and has travelled extensively around the world researching buyers, industries and meeting with them as well as banks and government officials.
She moved to Atradius following the divestment of the EFIC business in 2003, working all areas of the credit insurance business and is Chair of the APAC Trade Sector Committee. She is very passionate about great Customer Service and staff development.
History of Atradius in New Zealand from origins to today
Globally, Atradius was originally founded as NCM in the Netherlands in 1925. It was the world's first credit insurance company. At that time, the company was created with the goal of improving trade for companies in the Netherlands. This business plan was cemented in 1932 when NCM partnered with the Dutch government to provide export credit services to Dutch companies on behalf of the Dutch State. This relationship with Atradius Dutch State Business still exists today.
Locally, in 1966 the New Zealand Government set up an organisation called the Export Guarantee Office (EXGO) for the purpose of protecting exporters from the risk of non-payment by their overseas buyers. This was managed by State Insurance which was then a government department. State Insurance was later sold to Norwich Union, but continued to manage EXGO as a business unit of State Insurance.
Over time, EXGO added a guarantee-to-bank product to enable customers to obtain pre-shipment and post-shipment finance for their exports.
Later EXGO also started offering cover to customers wishing to cover their local sales as well.
In the meantime the New Zealand Government had sold EXGO to a private insurer, Norwich Union, who then onward sold its State Insurance arm, including EXGO, to NRMA (Australia) in 2001. Thereafter, EXGO was consolidated into one operating centre in Wellington, with a representative in Auckland, instead of there being individual EXGO representatives in State Insurance branch offices around New Zealand.
The changes in ownership did not stop there. In Feb 2003, Gerling Australia bought EXGO. Then in June 2003, Gerling Global Credit merged internationally with the Dutch insurer NCM, after which, for a short while, EXGO became known as Gerling NCM EXGO
In September 2003, Gerling Credit Australia, Gerling NCM EXGO and the short term operations of EFIC Australia integrated. In January 2004, they jointly became known as Atradius Credit Insurance NV and so Gerling NCM EXGO became Atradius New Zealand
Atradius now stands as one of the largest global credit insurance organisations in the world providing credit insurance and credit management products and services through 160 offices in 50 countries worldwide.
Building a strong local presence for local needs
Putting the needs of our customers at the centre of our focus is the primary objective of Atradius New Zealand. Our skilled underwriters and account managers understand the needs of your business and market and work closely with you and your broker to find the best credit insurance solutions. Our commitment to the highest quality customer service is demonstrated in our Customer Service Charter.
How credit insurance can protect cash flow for New Zealand Companies
Many businesses view money spent on credit insurance as a discretionary cost and take a short-term approach, opting to avoid taking out cover. These businesses think they can save on costs by carrying the risk themselves. Unfortunately, they do this without fully appreciating the extent of the risk and the damage that can occur to their business if the risk is realised. Without credit insurance to protect their cash flow, many businesses fall into insolvency. It doesn’t have to be this way.
A large number of the insolvencies in New Zealand arise from cash flow issues caused by defaulting debtors of failing businesses. If the business owners had invested in credit insurance, they may have been able to save their businesses.
There are many reasons businesses can’t pay invoices on time or at all. Some reasons are beyond their control, like political intervention and natural disasters, while others are within their control. Regardless of the reason, if a business cannot collect what it is owed, then cash flow will suffer.
Trade credit insurance protects cash flow by ensuring accounts receivable are covered when customers don’t pay, regardless of whether it is the customer’s fault or not.
A good trade credit insurer will add value to businesses of all sizes and act as the business’s eyes and ears on the ground. It can check that prospective customers are stable, creditworthy and have a reputation that meets the required standards. Credit insurance providers have access to live data on millions of businesses which helps a business be better informed to make strategic decisions.
Complaints Handling Process
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