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Communication Unit
PRESS DOSSIER [MAY 09]
WHAT IS CRÉDITO Y CAUCIÓN?
Since it was founded in 1929, Crédito y Caución has been the leading company for
credit insurance in Spain. At the international level, Crédito y Caución is the operator for
Spain, Portugal and Brazil of the Atradius Group, which provides credit insurance
services in 42 countries.
WHAT IS CREDIT INSURANCE?
Every time one of our 30,000 policyholder company enters into a commercial deal, it
asks Crédito y Caución to assess the new client’s non-payment risk. In 2008, our
analysts issued 3.4 million of these guaranteed assessments, through which we
permanently monitor our insured companies’ clients jointly assuming unpaid debts. In
cases of non-payment, the Company implements debt recovery procedures and
proceeds to apply the compensation.
Global
Operator
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of
goods and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry
leader in the Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the
Atradius Group, whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access
to commercial information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by
financial strength “A-” ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
Unidad de Comunicación
1. THE COMPANY
MARKET SHARE
Founded in 1929, Crédito y Caución was the first company in
Spain to provide credit insurance, the main system used by
companies all over the world to protect themselves against
the risk of non-payment. Since then, the Company has
remained the market leader in Spain for this type of
insurance with a market share nearing 60%. The volume of
business insured in 2008 exceeded 162,000 Million Euros.
At an international level Crédito y Caución is the operator for
Spain, Portugal and Brazil of the Atradius Group, which
provides credit insurance and surety services in 42 countries.
The combination has enhanced the Company’s leadership by
exporting credit insurance, becoming the only operator with a
significant presence in the Spanish market which is directly
supported in markets which absorb practically the whole of
Spanish exports. 32% of the companies whose commercial
risk is handled by Crédito y Caución conduct sales overseas.
The human team
The efficiency of Crédito y Caución is driven by the
experience and efforts of more than 2,000 professionals. At
the heart of the Company are its technical areas focused on
the underwriting and control of risks, technological
development and debt recovery management. A large
number of professional agents and specialized brokers
ensure a service which is totally accessible to the client.
Technology
Crédito y Caución introduced technology into its business
processes in 1965, the year its first computer system was
acquired to optimize Company response times and risk
assessment accuracy.
In the mid-nineties Crédito y Caución first began to develop
its current Automatic Decision System, which limit the
analyst’s decisions to strictly the most important. Last year,
our more than 30,000 customer companies asked for more
than 3.4 million risk classifications for their goods and
services credit sales. 90% of their operations are handled
automatically through the automatic system, based on
interrelationships between independent modules, which can
be readapted in real time to the fluctuating circumstances of
the market.
The last module to be incorporated is the scoring module
which estimates the probability of a company not being able
to meet its payment obligations in the coming year.
Crédito y Caución is leader of Credit
Insurance in the Iberian market and one of
the three main global operators, what
provides value to export companies.
1979
In our 50th anniversary we want to introduce
you to two of our most efficient employees.
The company already highlighted in this
campaign 30 years ago the value of
experience and technologic innovation.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
2. CREDIT INSURANCE
2009
Credit insurance is an integral system for managing
commercial risk, which allows companies to reinforce their
risk selection systems, outsource their debt recovery
processes and count on compensation guarantees common
to the insurance against non-payments.
Prevention
The different contribution of Credit insurance, which becomes
extraordinary important in the current framework of
continuous impairment, is its high capacity to ancitipate
changes in the profile of companies which conform the
entrepreneurial network. For that, Crédito y Caución counts
on 80 years of historical data, information providers and data
provided by insured companies in real time about payment
behaviour of their customers portfolio. All this information
feeds a system conceived as a kind of continually growing
mecano, which nowadays has around 400 variables
distributed in seven modules to monitor non-payment risk
evolution perceived by the insurance company in each
entreprise.
Crédito y Caución systems examine more than 10,000 credit
sales each day, setting limits to client solvency which are
binding on the Company. This analysis and continuous
follow-up represent an added value in all kind of
environments. When morosity is low it acts as a profitable
growth vector. When morosity is high, it acts as a protection
factor, assessing, on a company by company basis, nonpayment risk evoution in a changing environment.
In a changing environment increasingly
risky, credit insurance represents a
protection tool.
2005
Compensation
This is an important part of the value proposal of the
insurance credit: it implies that the operators assume nonpayment risks with the insured companies. In 2008,
compensations received by our clients grew in 72.2% to
€451.5 million. This guarantee provides financial support to
ensure the liquidity of the insured policyholder, who receives
compensation in the six months following a non-payment
event of the transactions insured.
Debt Recovery
Non-payment also activates mechanisms designed to
recover unpaid credit. An extensive network of lawyers and
cooperators, which compound a network of more than 300
offices, carries out the defense of our clients’ interests within
and beyond our frontiers.
In growth environments, credit insurance is a
profitable growth tool.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
Consultancy on internationalization
All insured companies have access to cycomex, the platform
of the integral Foreign Trade consultancy service, which
compiles all the practical information accumulated by the
Company concerning international markets. In a succinct,
straightforward and didactic manner, cycomex resolves the
500 most frequent queries a company has when starting an
internationalization process.
Most queries are related to questions which have already
been posed by policyholders and the mediation network of the
Company. In addition, exporters can access over 100 practical
country files. From the on-line platform export companies can
access a tailored consultancy service offered by the
Company.
2005
Totally on-line management
In 1993 Crédito y Caución implemented cycred, an on-line
service which allows policyholders to obtain an inmediate
answer to rating applications and on-line management of all
the processes linked to risk cycle.
In 2004 Crédito y Caución became the first Spanish company
to include the electronic signature in its documents, ensuring
absolute legal safety in response to risk enquiries from
policyholders.
92% of Crédito y Caución policyholders regularly make use of
cycred to manage their policies. Nearly 25,000 connections
are established daily and the exchange of information
exceeds 45 million transactions a month. According to the
latest Satisfaction and Image Survey conducted by GFK for
the Company, 97% of users consider the system to be very
good.
Leadership in foreign markets of Crédito y
Caución allows to provide an integral
consulting service on internacionalization to
insured companies.
Five types of policy
1930
Crédito y Caución clients contract one of the five types of
policy developed by the company: Internal Market if they
aim to protect business activities in the domestic
marketplace; Europa+, which covers all transactions carried
out in the European Union; Leader, which covers all
policyholder transactions in Spain and any other country in
the world; External Market, specifically designed for
exporting companies; and Start, with a simplified
management system for small companies. On this basis, up
to 200 policy supplements can be incorporated depending on
the business to be insured, sales volume, repayment terms,
the type of its clients, the market segments targeted, the skill
of the management team...
Crédito y Caución introduced the insurance
credit in Spain as a shield against
commercial risks.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
3. SURETY INSURANCE
1979
Surety insurance is one of the most effective formulas for all
those companies which, for legal or contractual reasons,
need to guarantee the compliance of obligations with third
parties. This product frees up the financial resources of
companies, enhancing their credit capacity and offering an
alternative to finance house ceilings, and facilitating their
trading activity and competitiveness.
In Crédito y Caución this ensuring modality is narrowly linked
to the presentation of guarantees to public administrations.
More than 8,600 firms regularly use the Company’s services
to provide over 64,700 tendering and execution of works,
supplies and services guarantees, which convert Crédito y
Caución in the leading Company used by firms which are
particularly active in the public sector.
Totally on-line management
Insured companies operate through cycaución, an on-line
service which allows the application for guarantees,
consultancy of those in process and notification by e-mail of
any change in ther processing. The system, used by 40% of
surety clients, utterly simplifies the procedure, therefore 99%
of the applications are resolved within the first 24 hours.
Companies may have access to a global vision of their
situation, the historical file which compiles all the information
about their guarantees and Publicaución, a search engine of
public tenders and awards fed by the information published in
more than 70 sources to carry out selective searchs. This tool
offers a list of results from where it is possible to access a
PDF file of the Official Gazette where it has been published.
Segmentation criteria allow to distinguish between
consultancy, works, services or suppy contracts; central,
autonomical, provincial and local administrations and to
include dates, amounts or acting territories ranks.
Do not fix your resources in guarantees...
1979 Advertisement, exposing the
advantages of surety insurance compared to
bank guarantees.
4. COMMERCIAL INFORMATION
Crédito y Caución created Iberinform in 1974 to have a
subsidiary focused on gathering and processing economic
and commercial data.
It is the only company offering financial information services
which complements the data it obtains from public sources by
conducting nearly 740,000 annual interviews with
businessmen, managing directors, directors and financial
managers of the companies whose risks it analyzes.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
5. INTERNATIONAL LINKS
EXPORTS 2008
Atradius Group, network effects
The combination of Crédito y Caución and Atradius in 2008
has created a bigger and more diversified group, with a
worldwide market share of 31%. Crédito y Caución provides
Group Atradius with its leadership and unquestionable
knowledge in the Iberian market, which have converted Spain
in the major individual market of the Group, and an optimum
potential for expansion in Latin-America.
From our customer’s standpoint, the contribution of Group
Atradius to Crédito y Caución is much more interesting.
Currently, Crédito y Caución’s analysts have unrestricted
access to all credit and risk information to 52 million
companies, streamlining decision-making, quality and followup. It is not only a question of financial statemens, but
information fed with real time data provided to the system by
insured companies on their customer’s portfolio payment
behaviours. All this information feeds a system which
monitors the evolution of non-payment risks the insurance
company perceives in each company.
This is denominated in network effects: market share
becomes service quality. From the nineties on, growing
economic internacionalization has entailed progressive
concentration in the sector, and the change in the insurer's
model to build global operators able to monitor millions of
transactions in all markets.
Group Atradius is the global operator whose activity is more
decentralized by markets, what enhances network effects.
Besides, only Crédito y Caución preserves these effects at
local and international levels, being the only one of the three
big global existing operators with a significant market share in
Spain.
Direct Presence
Credito y Caución is Group Atradius’ operator
in Spain, Portugal and Brazil. The
combination has reinforced our leadership in
export insurance credit, becoming the only
operator with a significant presence in the
Iberian market which can provide direct
services in 42 countries, among which the
most important Spanish exports markets.
1998
Crédito y Caución transferred in 1997 its experience and
services to Portugal. The Company has two offices, one in
Lisbon and another in Oporto, and it already occupies second
position in the Portuguese ranking, with a market share of
31%.
The Company started its operations in Brazil in 2007, one of
the three big credit markets in South America and the one with
biggest growth potential due to its size and its economic
development.
1998 Campaigns for Portugal and Spain. For
the first time, the Company adapts its
messages to two different markets.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
6. ROBUSTNESS AND SOLVENCY
FINANCIAL YEAR 2008
Financial strength
According to the closing dat of 2008, the company’s noncommitted net equity amounts to 295% of the legal minimum
required by control bodies.
Besides, Crédito y Caución high levels of solvavility are
reinforced by its membership to Group Atradius, world leader
of commercial credits insurance. The excellency ot the Group
shareholders composition reflects the public intitutional
support and very strong financial companies, such as
Catalana Occidente, Swiss Re or Deutsche Bank.
In fact, Today Group Atradius is better and bigger. In 2008,
its technical provisions grew in 76% to € 2,167 million. Net
equity grew 19% to € 1,016 million. Therefore, capital surplus
on legal requirements represent approximately € 600 million,
that is, 300% solvavility margin required to operate.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
Reinsurance
SHAREHOLDERS
Crédito y Caución has the backing of a reinsurance pool
which includes leading global companies.
Swiss Re, Switzterland
Munich Re, Germany
Transatlantic Re, United
Kingdom
Axis Re, Switzterland
Scor Re, Switzterland
Nationale Borg, The
Netherlands
Arch Re, Bermudas
Catalana Occidente, Spain
Nacional de Reaseguros,
Spain
Hannover Re, Germany
Partner Re, Switzterland
Mapfre Re, Spain
OND Ducroire, Belgium
Everest Re, United States
Quality Certificates
In 1999 Crédito y Caución was the first insurance company in
Spain to obtain 9001 Quality Certification, granted by the
Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification
(AENOR).
In 2005, after being officially recognized for its commercial
management, Crédito y Caución became the only non-life
insurance operator in Spain that has the quality stamp for all
its procedures, which are also certified by APCER in
Portugal, and Vanzolini in Brazil.
The excellency ot the Group shareholders
composition reflects the public intitutional
support and very strong financial companies.
Classification by Rating Agencies
Standard & Poor´s grants Crédito y Caución a long-term A
rating for financial strength and creditworthiness, which
reflects “a very strong financial profile”. Moody´s assigns the
Company its A2 rating, which implies "financial soundness".
International Organizations
Since it was founded in 1929, Crédito y Caución has been
intensely active internationally. In 1930 the Company signed
risk-sharing agreements in 36 countries and joined the
recently created International Credit Insurance & Surety
Association (ICISA).
In 1934, together with three other companies in France,
United Kingdom and Italy, it founded the Berne Union, which
today has 52 members in 43 different countries.
Since 1981 it has belonged to the Pan-American Surety
Association (PASA).
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
7. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Ethical code
Crédito y Caución counts on an Ethical Code which compiles
and develops corporate values which define its compromise
towards itself and towards all the groups it maintains
professional relations with, such as clients, agents, advisors,
suppliers or shareholders.
Honesty,
Respect,
Confidence,
Professionalism,
Innovation, Social Responisibility, Shared Knowledge
and Permanent Learning, represent all the company is and
wants to be.
The Ethical Code, based upon its derived ethical values and
principles, does not regulate concrete situations, but inspires
all the actions of Crédito y Caución people.
We are able to choose the best way,
because we share a guiding code.
Social actions
2004
The Company decidedly supports the exchange of experience
and information amongst companies, acting as a springboard
for economic development, wealth creation and the protection
of the productive fabric. This ethos is part of the essential
rationale behind credit insurance.
The major initiatives developed with the backing of the
Company include ExpoManagement, the largest annual
management congress in Europe, which brings together
leaders and thinkers from the world of the management
community, and different professional forums on finance, debt
recovery management, innovation, development and
competitiveness in different productive sectors.
The Company, through leading business schools, such as
the Instituto de Empresa, organizes Credit Management
and Internationalization Seminars. The company supports
since it was created the Premios Solidarios del Seguro
(Insurance Solidarity Prizes), backing up projects
distinguished for their sustainable social development.
The exchange of experience and information
amongst companies, acting as a springboard
for economic development, wealth creation
and the protection of the productive fabric.
This ethos is part of the essential rationale
behind credit insurance.
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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Unidad de Comunicación
8. MAKING HISTORY
1929. The Company was founded to cover non-payment risks
in domestic and export commercial operations.
1930. Collaboration agreements on risk participation with
companies in 36 countries and inclusion in ICISA.
1934. Cofoundation of the Berne Union.
1965. First computer system. Opening of branches.
1970. End of exclusive rights in foreign credit operations.
1984. Computer-to-computer information exchange with
affiliated companies all over the world.
1993. The CyCred on-line service permitted the direct
connection of policyholders with the company risk system.
1997. First international branch office opened in Lisbon.
2004. First company with an FNMT electronic signature.
2006. First branch opened outside of the European Union in
Brazil.
2008. Combination of Crédito y Caución and Atradius.
Different logos used by the Company all
along its history.
Since 1929, the activity of the Company,
which contributes, through the protection of
the productive fabric, to social and economic
development.
Crédito y Caución’s Communication Unit
Paseo de la Castellana 4
28046 Madrid
More information… Pavel Gómez del Castillo / Communication Officer of Crédito y Caución / 91 432 63 13 / 618 522 644 / [email protected]
For almost 80 years the insurance company Crédito y Caución has been helping companies to grow by protecting them against the risk of insolvency or non-payment of goods
and services sold on credit terms. Crédito y Caución has an almost 60% share in the Spanish market and 33% in Portugal, which places the company as industry leader in the
Iberian Market. Besides, the Company has recently expanded, its direct business into Brazil. Crédito y Caución is the operator in these three markets of the Atradius Group,
whit presence in 42 countries With an aggregate income of nearly EUR 1,800 million and a share of 31% in the global credit insurance market, it has access to commercial
information on over 52 million companies the world over and it takes over 22,000 credit limit decisions daily. Crédito y Caución solvency is guaranteed by financial strength “A-”
ratings by Standard & Poor and “A2” by Moody’s.
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