Mark Hoppe has been appointed MD of trade credit insurance company Atradius Australia.

He joined the Netherlands-based group in 2006 as head of client service and was later head of sales and new business.

In 2012 Mr Hoppe moved to the US to become regional director for Atradius Global, with responsibility for the US and Canada.

“My time with Atradius has given me an understanding of the business from the ground up,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“I’ve worked closely with clients and brokers, I understand those relationships, and I will use that experience as I now look at the business from a more strategic perspective.”

Mr Hoppe says one of Atradius’ biggest challenges is also an industry challenge – to promote the benefits of credit insurance.

“Credit insurance has an important role to play for many businesses and I feel there are still many opportunities to educate the local market on its benefits.

“The challenge for our whole industry is getting more market penetration for our product and we’ll be backing ourselves to get a fair share of that.”

Mr Hoppe says Australia’s credit insurance market has experienced greater competition in recent years, which has contributed to pressure on rates.

“The premium pool in our industry hasn’t increased at the same level as growth in the economy.

“The industry’s in good shape, it’s been growing, but not at the rate we would like. There’s still a lot of good business to be had.”