Eurotoll is the leading European provider of subscription contracts for heavy goods vehicles using the infrastructure network and existing electronic toll systems on most European toll road networks. The negative effects of the recession in Europe led Eurotoll to revisit its trade credit risk management model. Working with Tinubu Square, the company implemented credit management processes that provide real-time visibility into trade credit exposure, reduced accounts in arrears and cost of credit, and optimised credit insurance premiums and coverage.
Business drivers
Eurotoll’s direct toll road network covers more than 30,000 kilometres of toll motorways, tunnels, and bridges and secure parking in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. The company also works with partners in 27 European countries for seamless services related to controlling toll costs for 10,000 customers, including 70% of the 25 largest European freight companies. In 2011, Eurotoll issued approximately four million invoices totaling more than €500m for tolls and its wide range of value-added services.
Deteriorating economic conditions were having a considerable impact on the transportation sector in Europe. Consequently, Eurotoll decided to revisit its trade credit
risk management model. At the time, the company relied only on credit insurers and general financial information on customers, which did not provide the ability to track changes in customers’ financial position and credit worthiness in a timely manner.[[[PAGE]]]
Selecting a credit risk solution
In 2010, following a detailed evaluation and tender process, Eurotoll chose Tinubu Square’s Credit Risk Intelligence solutions, featuring the cloud-based Tinubu Risk Management Centre (RMC SaaS) platform, Tinubu Credit Intelligence service and Tinubu Risk Analyst service. Eurotoll was particularly attracted to the Tinubu Risk Management Centre because of the quality of information available, functionality and ease of use, particularly as a cloud-based solution, competitive pricing and value-added services.
The online Tinubu Credit Intelligence service, which provides on-demand, up-to-date customer risk profiles, is customised to Eurotoll’s specifications. This service integrates the latest financial and credit intelligence on customers with Eurotoll’s credit strategy and proprietary, internal client data via the Tinubu RMC platform. It allows the company to quickly qualify the current credit status of its existing and potential customers leading to speedy decision-making.
The Tinubu Risk Analyst on-call service for expert risk opinions provides advice on risk issues, risk monitoring for individual companies, groups of companies, and countries and constant dialogue with Eurotoll credit managers. This specialised service means that Eurotoll can rely on experienced guidance as and when it needs to.
“We wanted a partner capable of providing more specific and timely customer credit and financial information, optimally, on a daily basis,” commented Philippe Duthoit, General Manager of Eurotoll. “Tinubu Square fully understood and had the solutions to support our objectives.”
Evaluating the outcomes
Using Tinubu Credit Risk Intelligence solutions, Eurotoll established efficient management of its trade credit risk with real-time visibility across all exposures. Tinubu RMC and Credit Intelligence provided the tools to implement more effective credit management within the organisation on a daily basis. Eurotoll uses the Tinubu RMC platform to manage policies, limits, alerts, claims and, in particular, to assess the risk associated with each customer on an ongoing basis.
“Our teams submit between 10 and 20 cases per day and the Tinubu RMC allows us to deal with these requests within 30 minutes,” said Philippe Duthoit.
Tinubu Risk Analyst enhances the company’s new internal controls with customer monitoring and on-call expert consultation. The relationship between Tinubu Square and Eurotoll is based on the continuous sharing of information. Regular contact between Eurotoll and Tinubu Square analysts provide Eurotoll with the latest financial information available on customers. Amongst the data that this service can provide are risk portfolio analysis, detailed information on buyers and a financial overview of specific customers, credit recommendations, risk analyst opinions and monitoring of risks. A daily report is also available on risk portfolio changes and KPI’s attached to specific criteria.
“With Tinubu Square, we can make quick decisions based on reliable financial information,” said Philippe Duthoit. “We live in an ecosystem where trust is very important and we can work in complete harmony with Tinubu Square.”
As a result, Eurotoll has identified specific benefits: it has reduced accounts in arrears and reduced its cost of risk. Based on the reporting from Tinubu Credit Risk Intelligence solutions, the company has been able to implement a programme of credit insurance more adapted to its customers’ own specific activity. As a result, this has led to the optimisation of Eurotoll’s credit insurance costs and coverage.
