Global credit underwriting agency Credeq has launched a unified Australian offering covering trade credit insurance, surety, guarantees, warranty and specialty bonds, aimed at construction, property, infrastructure, resources and mid-market lending clients. The company says its Australian arm lifted gross written premium 11% to AU$204.2 million, with total insured exposure now sitting at AU$9.73 billion across the portfolio.
The launch was reported by Roads & Infrastructure, which said the new brand pulls established credit insurance businesses, including Assetinsure, under one global platform. For Australian clients, Credeq says that means the same local teams and relationships, backed by international underwriting capacity.
Those are the company’s own figures, not independently audited numbers, and every product mentioned below sits or falls on the wording of the policy behind it.
What surety and trade credit actually do on a job
Strip the branding away and two of these products matter directly to anyone holding a construction contract.
Security under a building contract usually takes one of two forms: cash retention held back off progress claims, or a bank guarantee. Both cost the contractor real money. Retention is your cash sitting in someone else’s account for the length of the defects period. A bank guarantee ties up part of the facility you might otherwise use to buy materials, hire plant, or float wages between claims.
A surety bond issued by an insurer can sit in that same slot without eating the bank line. That’s the pitch, and it’s why surety demand tracks capital intensity so closely.
Trade credit insurance works at the other end of the ledger. It covers the receivable, meaning the invoice you’re owed when the party who ordered the work goes under. For a supplier or a subcontractor carrying 30 or 60 days of exposure to a single head contractor, that’s the difference between a bad month and a closed business.
Credeq lists its full range as credit risk insurance, guarantees, surety, warranty, specialty bonds and trade credit insurance, offering capacity for risks it says “may not fit standard lending or insurance structures”.
”Not ambition, but financial capacity”
Credeq Australia chief executive Thane Duffin framed the launch around a funding squeeze rather than a lack of work.
“The issue for many businesses is not ambition, but financial capacity. Across the market, we are seeing companies with sound opportunities needing more flexible ways to protect risk, secure support and keep transactions moving,” Duffin said.
“The issue for many businesses is not ambition, but financial capacity. Across the market, we are seeing companies with sound opportunities needing more flexible ways to protect risk, secure support and keep transactions moving.”
Anyone who has watched a job stall while the client waits on a facility approval will recognise the description. The source article puts the rising demand down to capital intensity, supply chain volatility and counterparty risk, which is the polite way of saying nobody up or down the chain is entirely sure who is good for the money.
On why the businesses were consolidated under one name, Duffin said: “The Credeq brand has been created to bring our specialist credit expertise into one clearer global platform, giving clients continuity with the people and market knowledge they trust, but with greater scale, broader solutions and deeper capacity behind them.”
The agency operates through a partnership with Cert, a licensed insurance platform incorporating Lombard, Assetinsure and Nordic Guarantee, alongside S&P AA- rated insurance and reinsurance partners including HDI Global Speciality SE and SwissRe. It says it employs more than 280 specialists globally and uses AI-enabled risk insight “designed to strengthen, not replace, underwriting judgement”.
Deposit bonds and the property side
The other move worth noting is on the residential side. Credeq’s deposit bond division, Deposit Power, has acquired Deposit Assure, which the company says creates Australia’s largest specialist deposit bond provider.
A deposit bond does what the name suggests. Rather than handing over cash at exchange and waiting for settlement, the buyer provides a bond that guarantees the deposit. For a small builder or developer picking up a site, that’s cash left in the business instead of sitting idle in a trust account for months.
It’s not free money, and it doesn’t reduce what’s owed at settlement. It changes when the cash leaves the account, which for a business running on progress claims is often the whole argument.
What this means on the tools
Capacity landing at the top of the market doesn’t automatically reach a five-person subcontracting outfit. Surety and trade credit are broker-placed products, and pricing follows the strength of your balance sheet and the quality of the counterparty you’re exposed to.
The question worth putting to your broker is a narrow one: whether a bond can replace the bank guarantee on your next contract, and what a trade credit policy would cost against the size of your largest single debtor. If one client owes you more than a month’s turnover, you already know the answer to why this market is growing.
Duffin argued the timing matters more than the branding.
“Today’s announcement is not simply a brand launch. It is about bringing together proven specialist capability at a time when businesses need sharper underwriting, more flexible risk solutions and a partner that understands how credit decisions are made in real markets. Our role is to help clients use capital more effectively, secure opportunities and move forward with confidence,” he said.
For context on the risk these products are priced against, ASIC publishes insolvency statistics by industry, and construction has long been one of the heaviest users of the external administration system. Watch whether surety capacity actually filters down to tier three and below over the next year, or whether it stays where it has always been, with the contractors who need it least.
Frequently asked questions
What does a surety bond do on a construction job?
A surety bond issued by an insurer can replace cash retention or a bank guarantee as security under a building contract, without tying up the contractor’s bank facility.
What does trade credit insurance actually cover?
It covers the receivable, meaning the invoice a supplier or subcontractor is owed if the client that ordered the work goes under.
What is a deposit bond and who uses one?
A deposit bond lets a property buyer guarantee the deposit instead of handing over cash at exchange, leaving that cash in the business rather than sitting in a trust account until settlement.
How big is Credeq’s Australian business?
Credeq says its Australian gross written premium grew 11% to $204.2 million, with total insured exposure of $9.73 billion across its portfolio, according to the company’s own, unaudited figures.
Sourced from Roads & Infrastructure. Original article.
