Allied World is expanding the reach of its accounts receivable insurance.
The company announced Wednesday (April 19) that its AR Insurance is now available in 49 states and Washington, D.C., as it looks to help businesses mitigate the risk of non-payment due to insolvency, default or political risk.
“We are very pleased to now have approval in every state,” said Allied World EVP, Head of Global Crisis Management Division, Todd Germano in a statement. “This gives our team the ability to reach more customers and help them protect their companies’ balance sheets.”
In addition to geographic expansion, Allied World announced internal expansion with Hugo Carson being named as the company’s new vice president of AR Insurance.
“Hugo brings over a decade of credit insurance underwriting experience to Allied World, and we are lucky to have him on our team,” said the firm’s SVP, Global Crisis Management Division, Kent Paisley in another statement.
Allied World first launched in the U.S. and Canada last year. At the time, data from U.S. Bank found that as many as 82 percent of SMEs had failed because of poor cash flow management. Nonpayment on outstanding invoices not only reflects poor cash management of a corporate buyer, but can impact the cash management abilities of a supplier, too.
It’s a growing industry. In 2015 Waldorf Growth Partners said it became the first insurance program administrator to offer AR insurance, but the space has since seen new market entrances and new technologies — like artificial intelligence — tackling the risk of invoice non-payment.