36sektörden/from the sector from the sector/sektörden 37Kredi sigortas› alan›nda Türkiye’nin birinci flirketi“<strong>Coface</strong> Türkiye”Turkey's first credit insurance company1946 y›l›nda, Fransa'da kurulan <strong>Coface</strong> Group, dünyadaki üç büyük kredi sigortalama grubundanbiri. Tüm dünyada, 140 ülkeye yay›lm›fl ifl a¤›yla, uluslararas› ticareti kolaylaflt›ran hizmetler verenfirman›n Türkiye aya¤› olan <strong>Coface</strong> Türkiye, varl›¤›n› 1997'den bu yana sürdürüyor. Türkiye'deki ilkuluslararas› kredi sigorta flirketi olan <strong>Coface</strong> Sigorta A.fi'nin Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi ve Genel MüdürüBelk›s E. Alpergun ile sektöre dair samimi bir sohbet yapt›k.Founded in France in 1946, <strong>Coface</strong> Group is one of the three leading credit insurance groups inthe world. Turkish branch of <strong>Coface</strong> which is currently providing business-facilitating seruices all overthe world through its network extending to 140 countries, is operating in Turkey since 1997. Wehad a warm chat on the sector with Belk›s E. Alpergun, Board Member and General Manager of<strong>Coface</strong> Turkey’s first international credit insurance company.<strong>Coface</strong> Sigorta A.fi Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi ve Genel MüdürüBelk›s E. AlpergunBoard Member and General Manager of <strong>Coface</strong> TurkeyBildi¤imiz kadar›yla <strong>Coface</strong> dört ana hizmet alan›nda faaliyet gösterenbir firma (Kredi sigortas›, flirket ticari bilgi ve derecelendirilmesi,tahsilat hizmetleri, faktoring). <strong>Coface</strong>'›n geçmifl özetini sizina¤z›n›zdan alabilir miyiz?Elbette. <strong>Coface</strong>'›n kuruluflu 1946'l› y›llara dayan›yor. ‹lk kuruluflu,bir anlamda Exim Bank gibi; Fransa'n›n ihracatlar›n› desteklemeküzere oluflturulmufltur. Y›llar içinde edindi¤imiz bilgi birikimi sadeceihracat ifllemleriyle s›n›rl› kalmad›, ihracat yap›lan ülkelerede yay›lmaya bafllad›. Bu durum da uluslararas› bir boyuta tafl›nmam›z›sa¤lad›. 90'l› y›llar›n bafl›nda esen özellefltirme rüzgarlar›<strong>Coface</strong>'›n bugünkü konumunun temellerini att›. <strong>Coface</strong> bugün64 ülkede yerel <strong>Coface</strong> hizmeti ile bu ülkelerde ihracat ve yurtiçialacaklar› sigortal›yor.<strong>Coface</strong>'›n Türkiye'deki oluflumu 1997 y›l›na kadar gidiyor. 1997y›l›nda <strong>Coface</strong>'›n Garanti Sigorta ile iflbirli¤i bafll›yor. <strong>Coface</strong>'›nWe know that <strong>Coface</strong> is a company operating on four majorservice branches (credit insurance, business information andrating, collection services and factoring). Could you give us adeeper insight on historical background of <strong>Coface</strong>?Well, certainly. <strong>Coface</strong> was founded back in 1946. In a way, it wasinitially established like Eximbank; to support the exporters ofFrance. Over the years, as our increasing experience and expertisekept building up, and this was not limited to export transactions,but spreading out to the importer countries as well. With thisdevelopment, <strong>Coface</strong> stepped into the international arena. Thestrong privatization winds that prevailed during early 90s laid thefoundations of today's <strong>Coface</strong>. <strong>Coface</strong> today is insuring exports anddomestic receivables in 64 countries through domestic <strong>Coface</strong>services.The roots of <strong>Coface</strong> in Turkey go back to 1997. In 1997 <strong>Coface</strong>launched a cooperation with Garanti Sigorta. Back then, we wereproviding the entire infrastructure for an insurance product, whichINTERNATIONAL INVESTORS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEYULUSLARARASI YATIRIMCILAR DERNE⁄‹ULUSLARARASI YATIRIMCILAR DERNE⁄‹INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY
38 sektörden/from the sectorfrom the sector/sektörden 39kredi sigortas› dedi¤imiz, alacaklar›n ödenmeme sorununa karfl›verilen garantiyi içeren sigorta ürününün tüm alt yap› hizmetiniverdi¤i bu iflbirli¤i, daha çok ihracat alacaklar›na yönelik olarakbafllad›. Daha sonra iç piyasaya nas›l yay›l›r›z diye düflünürken ifllemlergeliflti. ‹lk iflbirli¤imizin geliflimi <strong>Coface</strong>'›n kredi sigortas›ndaÜlkemizin di¤er büyük sigorta flirketlerine de “outsourcing”hizmeti vermemizi sa¤lad›. Türkiye'nin geliflen dinami¤iyle 2005y›l›n›n bafllar›nda Türkiye'de kredi sigortas› alan›na yönelik yat›-r›m karar› al›nd›. 2006 y›l›n›n Haziran ay›nda müracaat›m›z› yapt›k.Eylül'de iznimizi ald›k. As›l iflleme bafllamam›z lisans›m›z› ald›ktansonra yani Ocak 2007'de oldu. fiimdi, ilk günümüzdenberi bizi yaln›z b›rakmayan ifl ortaklar›m›zla birlikte <strong>Coface</strong> SigortaA.fi. olarak yola devam ediyoruz.Türkiye'de önceden bir servis flirketiniz vard› sonras›nda sigorta flirketinizikurdunuz. Türkiye'de en çok hangi alana yöneldiniz?Dört ana dal olarak bahsetti¤imiz konular›n ikisini yap›yoruz fluanda. Kredi sigortas› ve bununla do¤rudan ba¤lant›l› olarak ya daba¤›ms›z olarak düflünülebilecek flirket ticari bilgilendirme ve derecelendirmehizmetimiz var. Bu hizmet, ticari firmalar›n, ticariborçlar›n› zaman›nda ödeyebilme kabiliyetlerine ba¤l› olarak verilenbir derecelendirme sistemi. @rating ürünümüz, iflletmelerinticari borçlar›n› söz verdikleri iradade yerine getirebilme olas›l›-¤›n› de¤erlendiren bir sistem. Bu bilgiler ›fl›¤›nda <strong>Coface</strong> Sigortasigortal›lar›n› ticari alacaklar›n›n ödenmemesi riskine karfl› korumaalt›na al›yor. <strong>Coface</strong>'›n bilgi kütüphanesinde 50 milyon flirketeiliflkin bilgi var. ‹flte bu sayede, <strong>Coface</strong> 64 ülkede 6000'denfazla çal›flan› ve 100 binin üzerindeki müflterisiyle uluslararas› düzeydefaaliyetlerini sürdürüyor. Tüm dünyadaki ifl ortaklar›m›zlabirlikte 140 ülkede hizmet verebiliyoruz.‹hracat kredi sigortas› alan›nda Türkiye önemli bir potansiyele sahip.Bunu nas›l de¤erlendiriyorsunuz?Evet, bu konuda Türkiye önemli bir potansiyele sahip ama bizsadece bununla s›n›rlam›yoruz kendimizi. Çünkü kredi sigortas›ya da alacak sigortas› dedi¤imiz kavram tek bafl›na ihracat›içermiyor. Yurtiçi piyasam›z da var. Türkiyede kredi sigortas›kavram› henüz çok yeni bir olgu. Bu yeni kavram› var olan konvansiyonelsigortac›l›k ürünlerinden ayr› tutmak gerekiyor. Birazdaha finansal sektöre kayan bir hizmet. Normal, al›flageliconsistedof a guarantee given against the risk of uncollected ofreceivables - which we call as <strong>Coface</strong>'s credit insurance -; howeverthis services was mostly limited with export receivables in the its earlyphases. As we were considering the ways of expanding our serviceswithin the domestic market, the business evolved and we startedproviding outsourcing services in the field of credit insurance to othermajor insurance companies.With Turkey's economic climate improving and trade volumeincreasing, we have decided to further grow our business in Turkeyby the year 2005. We filed our application in June 2006 and receivedour license in September same year. Thus, the official debut of <strong>Coface</strong>Sigorta A.fi. is January 2007; Since then, we proudly serve our businesspartners, who shared every step of the way with us since the very firstday.You formerly had a service company in Turkey. Later on, youestablished your insurance company. Which area are you mostlyoriented in Turkey?We currently are dealing only with the two of the “four main pillars”as we put it. We provide credit insurance services, as well asinformation and rating services; a field that might be considered asconnected to or independent from the former one. The latter is a agrading system, rating commercial companies' capabilities of payingtheir debts on time. This “@rating product”, is a system that assessesthe probability of business enterprises to payback their commercialdebts in line with their pledges. <strong>Coface</strong> Insurance service uses thisinformation, to protect our customers against the risk of uncollectedof their commercial receivables. <strong>Coface</strong>'s database contains 50 millioncompanies' data and information. With this unique asset, <strong>Coface</strong> is inoperation in 64 countries with more than 6000 employees, servingmore than 100,000 clients. Through our strategic alliances, we areable to provide service in 140 countries all over the world.Turkey holds a substantial potential regarding the export creditinsurance area. How do you evaluate this situation?Turkey holds indeed a substantial potential on this area, but we donot restrict ourselves with this; because the “credit insurance” or“receivables insurance” concepts are not limited to cover exports.There is also the domestic market. “Credit Insurance” as a conceptis fairly new in Turkey; and it is entirely different from the nature ofthe existing products of the conventional insurance companies. Thisis a service that stands rather on the financial side of sector.The conventional insurance service is by nature more static; you haveto consider it once in a year, whenever your term ends and renewaltime arrives. The credit insurance services on the other hand, expandin to the day-to-day operation of the company; as we cover everytransaction involving a credit sale. This is a symbiosis system,constantly providing updated information such as: “If the buyers canfulfill their payment obligations on time? To which extent? Will therebe any problems faced?”, and which should cooperate with you. Thisis cooperation to the ultimate, this is true solution partnership.As I had just pointed out; you are providing service on four majorbranches. Which of these four service branches are mostextensively used?The <strong>Coface</strong> services are, credit insurance, service and businessinformation and rating - which we talked about in association withthe credit insurance service-, factoring and debt collection - which wefrom time to time define as receivables management. Whencombined all together, we come to a set of services that help thecompanies managing one of their most crucial and significant asset:the receivables. We divide this integrated service into four majorparts. Our customers may acquire these services as a completesolution, or they may choose to employ them partially. However, forthe time being, we are operating in Turkey only on two of thesebranches: credit insurance, and business information and ratingservice linked to it. We have also applied for factoring license and arelooking forward to receive it at an earliest timing.What is the situation of factoring services globally? Is Turkeylagging behind in this area?Factoring is an instrument established in the developed markets ofthe world, and it is rapidly expanding in developing countries. Itinvolves a transaction volume of USD 1.6 trillion. <strong>Coface</strong> is currentlygrowing in factoring field. The growth is especially significant inGermany and Italy. We have chosen Turkey as a pilot country foroffering this service, because factoring business is developing to asubstantial culture in our country. The factoring business presents,by the end of 2006, a volume of USD 19-20 bn, with more than80% of this sum being realized domestically. This chunk comprisesonly the 2 of 3 lines of business of factoring; namely financing andcollection solutions. Actually, the key point in factoring is“guarantee” transactions. With credit insurance services, weundertake this task and therefore rendering the product complete,in a word crowning it. We see Factoring to fuel up the domesticbusinesses significantly; while bringing the vision to furtherdimensions in export and import factoring transactions. Directexport factoring services will now be available in Turkey. In this field,<strong>Coface</strong> Turkey is able to provide direct service to factoringcompanies as well.INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEYULUSLARARASI YATIRIMCILAR DERNE⁄‹ULUSLARARASI YATIRIMCILAR DERNE⁄‹INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY
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