Allianz Trade the world’s leading trade credit insurer, has launched a standalone fraud insurance product to help businesses combat the post-pandemic rise in employee fraud and external scams in the UK.

The new product covers internal fraud by employees, such as bribery, embezzlement and misappropriation or theft. It also covers external fraud including robbery, burglary, intercepted payments, payments made on the basis of a forged ‘order’, and impersonation fraud.

Impersonation fraud occurs when a criminal accesses a business’ email system or uses spoofing software to email employees with what appears to be a genuine email from the ‘CEO’ with urgent requests for payment. New figures showing CEO impersonation fraud rose by 6% to £13.4m last year*.

In addition, £2.5bn was lost by UK residents and businesses due to fraud and crime in 2021, with 62,976 reports made by British businesses. It is also worth noting that 50% of UK businesses have been victims of fraud in the past two years*.

Sarah Murrow, CEO of Allianz Trade in the UK and Ireland, said: “The time is right to launch this new standalone cover in the UK in response to economic changes and growing interest in the market. Post pandemic economic uncertainty and increases in the cost of living mean that businesses face a heightened risk of internal and external fraud.”

Steve Stennett, Commercial Director, Allianz Trade in the UK & Ireland, added: “Allianz Trade is already a key fraud insurer in Europe with more than 60 years' experience in this market. Our comprehensive UK offering, built on our proven track-record in Germany, France, Belgium and The Netherlands will provide businesses with peace of mind when it comes to fraud and to concentrate on what they do best.”

What the Allianz Trade fraud insurance covers:

• Cover for losses caused by your own employees, including external workers, temporary staff as well as lawyers, tax consultants and auditors working for your company, through theft, fraud, embezzlement or damage to property;
• Cover against losses due to certain types of social engineering, i.e. fraud committed by assuming a false identity, such as fake president fraud;
• Cover for certain losses caused by third parties through acts of robbery, burglary, payment diversion and forged invoices;
• We cover costs for the continuation of business operations up to 6 months after the occurrence of the event of loss.

Allianz Trade’s fraud insurance product encapsulates a wide definition of ‘employee’, including full-time, part-time, temporary and contract workers. Social engineering is covered as standard, while there is unlimited retroactive cover for losses incurred prior to inception. Allianz Trade will also offer customers a dedicated team of fraud specialists to assess claims and provide support in the aftermath of a fraud loss.

ENDS.

^{Notes to editors:}

<sup>* UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report

* Payback / National Fraud Intelligence Bureau: UK loses £2.5bn in fraud and cyber-crime cases during 2021 - CityAM</sup>

^{* PwC report: 1 in 2 UK businesses are victims of fraud - Reed Business School}

About Allianz Trade

We predict trade and credit risk today, so companies can have confidence in tomorrow.

Allianz Trade is the global leader in trade credit insurance and a recognized specialist in the areas of surety, collections, structured trade credit and political risk. Our proprietary intelligence network analyses daily changes in +80 million corporates solvency. We give companies the confidence to trade by securing their payments. We compensate your company in the event of a bad debt, but more importantly, we help you avoid bad debt in the first place. Whenever we provide trade credit insurance or other finance solutions, our priority is predictive protection. But, when the unexpected arrives, our AA credit rating means we have the resources, backed by Allianz to provide compensation to maintain your business. Headquartered in Paris, Allianz Trade is present in 52 countries with 5,500 employees. In 2021, our consolidated turnover was €2.9 billion and insured global business transactions represented €931 billion in exposure.