Introduction
The European credit insurance market is the largest in the world and it accounts for almost 85% of the world market. Within Europe, the largest markets are Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy. Although Italy is the seventh largest insurance market in the world and the fourth largest in Europe, its per capita spending on insurance places it among Europe's lowest.
Credit insurance used to be divided into domestic credit, export credit and political risk but, since borders have a sizeable negative impact on trade flows and this “border effect” could result in less international trade, the distinction between domestic credit and export credit is beginning to disappear within the euro area as trade becomes progressively less international in nature.
