Local man elected to global trade body

An SA credit insurance executive has just been elected as a member of the management committee of the industry’s global trade body. At the annual meeting of the International Credit Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA), Mike Truter of SA-based Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation (CGIC) was appointed to the new management team of the world body – whose members represent over 95% of the global credit insurance industry and insure over R16-millionmillion in trade receivables. The current financial crisis and the ensuing recession were main subjects of discussion at the AGM, according to Truter. “Credit insurers perceive a heavily deteriorated commercial risk environment and therefore a sharp increase in default probability,” he told FTW. “Furthermore, credit insurers forecast a sharp decrease of insured trade and therefore a downturn in premium volume, which may happen in 2010. “However, this decrease, thanks to a basic level of international trade, will be less than the drop in gross domestic product (GDP) in some markets, in particular in the USA.”