The story
History
Coface was founded in 1946 as the French specialist export credit insurance company.
During the 1990s, Coface developed internationally through internal and external growth, by acquiring credit insurance companies and by creating new subsidiaries or branches. External acquisitions included La Viscontea in 1992 (Italian safety and credit insurance company), London Bridge Finance in 1993 (UK financial company providing credit insurance services), Allgemeine Kredit in 1996 (German company providing domestic and export credit insurance options) and Osterreichische Kreditversicherung in 1997 (Austrian credit insurer) along with the acquisition of the Continental portfolio in the US in 2002. The Group's international development also involved the creation of the Coface Partner network in 1992, which enabled it to conclude partnerships with general insurance groups and banks, notably in emerging markets.
In 2002, Natexis acquired Coface.
In 2010, Coface began offering credit insurance policies in Russia.
In 2014, Coface was listed on the Paris stock exchange (Euronext Paris, CAC Small.
In 2016, Coface transferred the state guarantees’s activities to the public bank Bpifrance thus putting an end to Coface's activities for the French State.
In 2018, Coface announced the acquisition of PKZ, market leader in credit insurance in Slovenia, and a subsidiary of SID Bank16.
On February 25, 2020, Natixis announced that it had signed a partnership agreement with Arch Capital Group relating to the sale of 29.5% of Coface's capital for €480 million. On the same day, Coface announced its new Build to Lead strategic plan which aims by 2023 to strengthen risk management and improve the group's commercial and operational efficiency.
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In July 2020, Coface finalized the acquisition of GIEK Kredittforsikring AS with the aim of strengthening its market position in Northern Europe.
In 2021, the Group is present directly or indirectly in 100 countries.
Business information
To prevent the risk of non-payment, it is important to collect relevant information on buyers and their environment. An analysis of this information serves as a basis for decision-making.
Coface offers various information services, ranging from the provision of raw data to a risk-taking recommendation on any company in the world. Multiple levels of information are collected and analyzed: information reports, synthetic indicators of single and global risk, and various risk-taking recommendation tools.
From Wikipedia’s article on Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5