Source: Euler Hermes
The Euler Hermes Digital Agency (EHDA) has established a presence in London for the first time with the appointment of Raphael Caruso as Head of the Innovation Lab for Euler Hermes Northern Europe Region, based in the company’s Canary Wharf office in London.
Raphael Caruso joined EHDA in December 2016. His role is to assist Euler Hermes in the region to prototype, develop and test new propositions and to identify disruptive start-ups in the trade credit insurance and trade finance space. Already Euler Hermes in the UK is working on several significant projects with Raphael Caruso’s assistance. The company declined to provide further details of the projects under development.
Fabrice Desnos, CEO Euler Hermes Northern Europe, commented: “London has the unique combination of hosting the world’s leading insurance market and being one of the world’s leading global fintech hubs. It is a natural selection for Euler Hermes to choose London to invest in developing the future of trade credit insurance.”
Prior to joining Euler Hermes, Raphael Caruso was Strategy and FinTech Manager at Direct Line Insurance Group where he articulated the Group’s fintech investment and partnership strategy and worked on innovation projects including analysing the impact of driverless cars on the insurance industry. Before joining Direct Line in 2014 he worked in investment banking as an equity research analyst covering the European insurance sector.
Christophe Spoerry, co-head of EHDA, added: “We are working globally with leading experts inside and outside Euler Hermes and exceptional start-ups in innovative fields such as big data science and blockchain. The speed with which new ideas and projects are incubating with Raphael’s help demonstrates our confidence in these emerging digital markets.”
Initially based in Paris, EHDA was launched in June 2015 and aims to reinvent trade finance by partnering with data scientists, online business marketplaces, supply chain finance providers and alternative lenders to better manage credit risk. By harnessing the power of digital technologies and Euler Hermes established risk underwriting expertise, the aim is to create a new generation of product lines and open new markets for trade credit insurance.
Euler Hermes is the world’s leading trade credit insurance company. The Euler Hermes Northern Europe Region has offices in 16 countries.
In a separate study, Euler Hermes found that the UK is one of the most ‘digital-ready’ economies in the world, ranking fourth out of 135 countries surveyed thanks to its ability to capitalise on digital business opportunities despite the uncertain global trade outlook.