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Buyer From Insurer Integration

This document explains how the system works with credit insurance providers to manage buyer credit limits. It describes the business process for each insurer and how buyer information is retrieved and synchronized.

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Buyer From Insurer Integration

This document explains how the system works with credit insurance providers to manage buyer credit limits. It describes the business process for each insurer and how buyer information is retrieved and synchronized.

Overview

The system integrates with four main credit insurance providers:

  • Allianz

  • Atradius

  • Coface

  • Groupama

Each insurer has different capabilities and workflows for:

  1. Fetching buyer credit limit information

  2. Identifying buyers in their system

  3. Requesting new or updated credit limits

Common Workflow Pattern

Most insurers follow a similar pattern when working with credit limits:

  1. Check for existing insurer reference: First check if the buyer already has a reference number in the insurer's system

  2. Lookup buyer in insurer system: If not found, search for the buyer using their legal identifier (VAT number, SIREN, etc.)

  3. Request credit limit: Submit the credit limit request using the insurer's reference

  4. Store insurer information: Save the insurer's reference and response data

  5. Share across duplicate buyers: When a buyer has the same legal identity across multiple records, share the insurer information with all of them

Allianz Integration

How Buyer Information is Retrieved

When fetching credit limit information from Allianz, the system tries multiple approaches in this order:

  1. Using saved Allianz reference: If the buyer already has an Allianz company ID stored, use it directly

  2. Using internal buyer code: Search Allianz using the buyer's internal reference code

  3. Using legal identifier: If the above fail, search Allianz using the buyer's legal identifier (VAT, registration number, etc.) to find their company ID, then retrieve the cover

Finding a Buyer in Allianz System

To find a buyer's Allianz company ID:

Requirements:

  • Buyer must have a country

  • Buyer must have a legal identifier (VAT number, commercial register number, etc.)

Process: The system searches Allianz's database using the buyer's legal identifier, country, and identifier type. If found, Allianz returns the company ID which is then stored for future use.

Requesting Credit Limits

Workflow:

  1. Obtain the buyer's Allianz company ID (using the methods above)

  2. If the buyer is not registered in Allianz, the request cannot proceed (manual registration required)

  3. Submit the credit limit request with:

    • Buyer's Allianz company ID

    • Requested amount and currency

    • Contract policy information

Information Received from Allianz:

  • Credit limit amount

  • Decision status (approved, refused, etc.)

  • Request date

  • Last update date

  • Expiration date (if applicable)

Atradius Integration

How Buyer Information is Retrieved

When fetching credit limit information from Atradius, the system tries multiple approaches in this order:

  1. Using saved Atradius reference: If the buyer already has an Atradius buyer ID stored, use it directly

  2. Using internal buyer code: Search Atradius using the buyer's internal reference code

  3. Using legal identifier: If the above fail, search Atradius using the buyer's legal identifier to find their buyer ID, then retrieve the cover

Finding a Buyer in Atradius System

To find a buyer's Atradius buyer ID:

Supported Legal Identifiers:

  • Commercial Register number

  • Dun & Bradstreet number

  • National Registration Number

  • SIREN number

  • VAT Number

Process: The system calls Atradius API to search for the buyer using their country (ISO 3-letter code), legal identifier, and identifier type. If found, Atradius returns the buyer ID which is then stored for future use.

Requesting Credit Limits

Workflow:

  1. Obtain the buyer's Atradius buyer ID (using the methods above, or proceed without it)

  2. Determine if this is a new request or an update:

    • If the buyer already has Atradius data stored: Update the existing cover (supersede action)

    • If not, check if a cover exists in Atradius by searching:

      • If cover exists: Update it (supersede the existing cover)

      • If no cover exists: Create a new cover request

  3. Submit the appropriate request type to Atradius API

  4. Store the buyer ID from the response for future use

Special Cases:

  • If creating a new cover fails because it already exists, the system automatically switches to updating the existing cover

  • New buyers without a buyer ID will have it extracted from Atradius's response

Information Received from Atradius:

  • Buyer ID (if not already known)

  • Credit limit amount

  • Decision status

  • Cover details

Coface Integration

How Buyer Information is Retrieved

When fetching credit limit information from Coface, the system tries two approaches in this order:

  1. Using saved Coface reference: If the buyer already has a Coface easy number stored, use it directly

  2. Using internal buyer code: Search Coface using the buyer's internal reference code

Finding a Buyer in Coface System

To find a buyer's Coface easy number:

Requirements:

  • Buyer must have a country

  • Buyer must have a legal identifier

Process: The system calls Coface API to search for the buyer using their country, identifier type, and identifier value. Different countries use different identifier types (VAT, SIREN, commercial register, etc.). If found, Coface returns the easy number which is then stored for future use.

Requesting Credit Limits

Workflow:

  1. Obtain the buyer's Coface easy number (using the methods above)

  2. If the buyer is not found in Coface, the system can still proceed with an "unknown debtor" request

  3. Determine the type of request needed:

    • Create: For unknown debtors or buyers without existing products

    • Update: For buyers with existing credit limit products

    • Change: For buyers with other product types that need to be changed to credit limit

  4. Submit the request to Coface API with buyer information and requested amount

  5. Store the easy number from the response

Unknown Debtor Handling: When a buyer is not found in Coface's system, the system can still submit a credit limit request by providing:

  • Debtor name

  • Country

  • Address details (street, postal code, city)

Coface will process this as a new debtor registration along with the credit limit request.

Information Received from Coface:

  • Easy number (Coface's buyer reference)

  • Credit limit amount

  • Decision status

  • Product details

Groupama Integration

How Buyer Information is Retrieved

Groupama works differently from other insurers - it only supports batch retrieval of all credit limits for a contract. There is no way to look up individual buyers or request new credit limits through their API.

Process: The system calls Groupama API to retrieve all credit limits for a specific insurance policy. The response includes all buyers covered under that policy.

Finding a Buyer in Groupama System

Groupama does not have a separate search function. The buyer's Groupama reference number (NumeroGac) is provided directly in the credit limit data when retrieving all covers for a contract.

Duplicate Buyer Handling

Problem: When the same buyer exists across multiple sectors or contracts in Groupama, they return multiple records for the same buyer (identified by their Groupama reference number and legal ID).

Solution: The system automatically consolidates these duplicate records:

  1. Group by buyer: Identify all records belonging to the same buyer

  2. Select latest: Keep only the record with the most recent decision date

  3. Avoid duplicates: This prevents duplicate buyer errors during import

Credit Limit Amount Calculation

Groupama supports both permanent and temporary credit limit increases:

How it works:

  • Each buyer has a base (permanent) credit limit amount

  • They may also have a temporary increase amount with start and end dates

  • The system calculates the effective credit limit based on the current date:

    • If today is within the temporary increase period: Base amount + Temporary amount

    • Otherwise: Base amount only

This ensures that temporary credit limit increases are automatically applied and removed based on their validity period.

Decision Status Codes

Groupama provides decision status codes for each credit limit:

Code

Meaning

AC

Accepted

AN

Cancelled

LI

Partially Accepted

R

Cancelled

RF

Refused

ND

No Decision (treated as refused)

Limitations

Groupama has a more limited integration compared to other insurers:

  • No individual buyer lookup: Cannot search for or retrieve a specific buyer's information

  • No credit limit requests: Cannot request new credit limits through the API

  • Read-only integration: Only supports retrieving existing credit limits

  • Batch only: Must retrieve all buyers for a contract at once

  • Currency: All amounts are in EUR only

Blind Cover

What is Blind Cover?

Blind cover is a default credit limit amount set at the contract level that is automatically applied to buyers who don't have an official credit limit from the insurer.

When is Blind Cover Assigned?

Blind cover is assigned in the following scenarios:

  1. After contract save/update: When a contract is created or updated with a blind cover amount

  2. After fetching covers from insurer: After retrieving credit limits from the insurer (batch or individual)

  3. After invoice creation: When buyer balances are recalculated after invoice import

Who Receives Blind Cover?

Blind cover is assigned to buyers who meet ALL of these conditions:

  1. Belong to the contract's company and currency

  2. Do NOT have an existing credit limit (or only have a blind cover credit limit)

  3. The contract has a blind cover amount configured

How Blind Cover Works

  1. Creation: A single credit limit with blind cover status is created per contract

  2. Assignment: This credit limit is shared across all eligible buyers in the contract

  3. Removal: When a buyer receives an official credit limit from the insurer, the blind cover is automatically replaced

  4. Update: If the blind cover amount changes, all buyers with blind cover are updated

  5. Deletion: When a contract is deleted, blind cover is removed from all its buyers

The system automatically manages blind cover assignment and removal based on contract and buyer changes.

Decision Handling

No Decision (ND) Type

When an insurer returns a decision type of "ND" (No Decision), the system:

  1. Removes the buyerFromInsurer record for that buyer

  2. Removes the associated creditLimit for that buyer

  3. This applies to Groupama and Allianz insurers

This ensures that buyers without a decision from the insurer don't have stale or invalid credit limit data.

Sharing Buyer From Insurer

What is Sharing?

When multiple buyer records in the system represent the same legal entity (same company, currency, and legal identifier), they should share the same insurer information.

When Does Sharing Occur?

Sharing happens automatically in these scenarios:

  1. After credit limit request: When new insurer information is received, it's shared with all buyers having the same legal identity

  2. After batch import: When importing covers from insurer, the system shares insurer data across duplicate buyers

  3. Manual trigger: The system can be triggered to share insurer data for all buyers in a company

How Does Sharing Work?

Process:

  1. Identify all buyers with the same legal identity (company + currency + legal identifier type + legal identifier value)

  2. Find the most recent insurer information or credit limit among them

  3. Assign this insurer data to all buyers in the group

Benefits

  • Consistency: All buyers representing the same entity have the same credit limit

  • Efficiency: Reduces duplicate API calls to insurers

  • Data integrity: Ensures credit limit information is synchronized across duplicate buyers

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