Els van Leeuwen-Hoogervorst

PolicyManager Global Product Leader


PolicyManager

Digital transformation continues to grow

Now more than ever we have witnessed the critical importance of digital solutions to support credit managers in allowing them to make better decisions when facing the increasing interconnectivity of risks around the world.

PolicyManager was developed by Aon together with Visma|Onguard – an independent supplier of credit management software – and is available exclusively to Aon Clients.

Up to date alerts

PolicyManager links your receivables and invoicing data in your financial system with data from your credit insurer. The system is designed to automatically detect deficits in credit limits, analyse and calculate discretionary limits and issue alerts when one of the policy events occurs.

Discretionary limits

Many of our clients have the option of a discretionary limit available under their credit insurance policy, but some do not really feel comfortable using this option. PolicyManager helps maximise the use of discretionary limits by calculating the available cover, keeping track of payment behaviour and changes in payment behaviour, as well as other subjectivities for the cover.

Allocation of payments

All major credit insurers offer the possibility to allocate payments in chronological order to the oldest invoice first. PolicyManager offers the possibility to check outstanding amounts both with the specifically paid invoices and after allocation of payments which can help reduce the number of stop shipments or claims that need to be reported under the policy.

Automated limit updates in your bookkeeping system

PolicyManager allows its clients to automate entering limits and changes to existing limits and ratings into companies ERP systems. Covers and changes to these covers and ratings are uploaded via an automated process to the clients ERP system where data is structured in a standard manner across all insurers.

Ruggero Nicodemo

Head of Surety EMEA


Use of Surety facilities continue to expand in 2021

Businesses take advantage of the opportunity to improve profit and loss, and balance sheets during a volatile market.

Innovation, flexibility and cost of surety guarantees continue to drive growth for clients. Below are some notable applications of this financial solution.

In response to climate change, economies are driving towards new or developing industry activities that will improve their overall carbon footprint. Surety has emerged as a tool that can financially support the transition to a more sustainable industry. For instance, a company developing renewable or sustainable projects may use Surety in various manners, e.g.:

  • Bid bonds to avoid tying up capacity on their banking facility.
  • Decommissioning bonds to avoid tying up cash in escrow.
  • Grid connection bonds to be authorised by the government to be linked to the energy.
  • Power Purchase Agreement bonds in order to guarantee a set 10-year power price in their contract, enabling financing before the project begins.

As well as building awareness of the potential applications of surety, making sure that there is available insurer capacity to underwrite surety facilities will be critical in helping to grow the future industry.

In the past, we have observed that some clients were asking too much from insurers at a local level where the capacity is often restricted. For this reason, at Aon we take a holistic approach around engaging with the surety market, with an international and central design methodology.