Activa International Insurance and Coface hosted a forum in Accra on 9 April titled "Credit Insurance as a Financing Tool for Exporters," making the case that trade credit insurance can break the collateral barrier that locks most Ghanaian businesses out of bank lending.
The argument works like this: an exporter ships goods, invoices the buyer, and pays a premium to the insurer. If the buyer defaults, the insurer pays. The insured receivable then becomes bankable collateral — a lender can advance against it because the payment risk sits with the insurer, not the exporter. For a business that leases its premises and has no property to pledge, the receivable is the only asset a bank can work with.
That mechanism matters in a market where approximately 95 percent of businesses cannot secure loans due to collateral requirements, the SME financing gap runs to an estimated $4.8 billion annually, and average lending rates sit at 19.7 percent with some banks still pricing at 28 percent.
What the room said
Hicham Kabli, Commercial Director for Coface's Maghreb and West and Central Africa operations, positioned credit insurance as a strategic financial tool rather than a loss-protection product. Coface operates in 97 countries and maintains real-time buyer risk assessments and payment behaviour tracking that underpin the coverage.
Gabriel Siaw, Head of Large Local Corporates at Societe Generale Ghana, said Coface-backed transactions can improve access to funding and accelerate financing processes. He was clear that credit insurance is a risk mitigant, not a substitute for due diligence — the bank still assesses the borrower.
Hajia Maria Adamu-Zibo, Managing Director of Federated Commodities (FEDCO), gave the exporter's perspective. She said credit insurance enables business continuity and strengthens trade relationships, speaking from direct experience working with both Activa and Coface.
The supply side
Activa introduced credit insurance to Ghana in December 2012 through its partnership with Coface. Activa is the seventh-largest non-life insurer by premium income among Ghana's 30 licensed operators. It led the entire industry in claims settlement in the NIC's 2024 report. Its parent, Activa Group, founded the Globus Network in 2007, a federation covering 48 of 54 African countries. Coface is the only credit insurer with a direct presence in nine West and Central African countries.
Where this sits in the policy landscape
Four things are converging. The Section 222 local cargo insurance directive mandates local coverage for all commercial imports. The 24-Hour Economy Authority, backed by $110 million in government allocation and $300 million to $400 million in seed capital, is working with the Bank of Ghana and the National Insurance Commission to design a credit insurance guarantee scheme that allows SMEs to borrow against insured receivables without physical collateral. Ghana hosts the AfCFTA Secretariat and is pushing to grow non-traditional exports. And less than 5 percent of intra-African trade is currently credit-insured, against more than 90 percent conducted on open account.
