A team from COSEC – Credit Insurance Company, was at the headquarters of the J.J. Louro Group for an information session aimed at the commercial team. Sara Poeiras, Luísa Varandas and Ana Paula Oliveira explained to the attendees what credit insurance consists of and its three basic pillars (risk prevention, debt recovery and compensation), who is COSEC and what service it provides to the J.J. Louro Group and how the partnership between COSEC and the Group can be enhanced.
Credit insurance for companies covers the risk of non-payment for sales of goods and services on credit. They are insurances taken out by companies to hedge against risks related to recoveries or exports.
It was precisely with the aim of having special support in covering the foreign market that the partnership between Grupo Louro and COSEC began in 2016. Sara Poeiras, Director of the South Commercial Department, recalls this first experience, in which COSEC was able to provide special support due to its proximity to customers, given its international presence reinforced by the shareholder Allianz Trade.
The experience went well and, two years after it started, it was extended to the national market. “Since then, around 2018, we have been with this joint coverage and with a growth of alignment of procedures related to business needs, deadlines, markets, or recovery support”, assures Sara Poeiras. The responsible emphasises that it has been a partnership work. “The insurer is a company that is in the middle between the customer and the companies. We are an external entity, but we like to feel part of the team”.
For Vasco Aparício and Luís Silva, from the J.J. Louro Group’s Finance Department, this kind of action is very important because the commercial and financial areas must be complementary. “The commercial area obviously has certain sales objectives, but it cannot neglect the risk factor. This is where the financial area comes in, in dialogue with the commercial area, to clarify and draw attention to the profile of each client. On the other hand, it is important for the commercial department to know the criteria followed in risk analysis and in granting credit”, says the financial director, Vasco Aparício, highlighting the mainly pedagogical purpose of this session.
