Cross-Border Products

Matching Cross-Border Business Risk
With The Right Information

As domestic markets shrink, foreign markets appear to present limitless opportunities for expansion and growth. With opportunity comes risk. The more complex the business decision and higher the stakes, the greater the risk.

To add to this trading mix, there are some risks unique for cross-border commerce. How do you identify the right trading partners, for example? How do you select a reliable supplier in another country? Predict the likelihood of getting paid? What are the economic elements you should be aware of in business environments different from your own? While risk cannot be avoided, it can be reduced.

Dun & Bradstreet has been helping customers to better manage their business risks in markets around the world for over 160 years. D&B's accelerated efforts to become your solution provider of choice have resulted in the online launching of a suite of proven U.S. and European decision support tools that can help you expand and grow your business by better managing your trade risks.

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D&B Key Credit Tools To Help You Better Manage Risk
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What determines the risk of a business decision?
Some factors include:

• Assessing country risk
• Monetary size of the transaction
• Whether it is a new or existing customer or supplier
• Your total account exposure
• The customer's current credit status

Naturally, some of your decisions will be riskier than others, requiring different credit tools to help you make more informed decisions. For example, if you simply want to verify that a business exists, you'll use a different tool than if you need in-depth information about a company's payment history or financial stability. The key for making the best credit decisions is matching the level of risk for each situation with the appropriate amount of information you need to make a sound, knowledge-based decision.

Solutions for Your Low to Medium Risk Decisions 

D&B European Compact Report
High volume cross-border transactions can sometimes involve having to make quick decisions while at the same time keeping risk exposure to a minimum. All that you might need is a financial snapshot of a company to help you make an informed assessment. The D&B European Compact Report is designed to meet just those needs. Providing essential local background information in a concise format, this convenient business tool provides:

• Basic business identification, evaluation and financial summary information including the D&B D-U-N-S® Number and D&B Rating
• Legal filings summary including commentary on the outcome of critical legal events
• Information on business principals
• Financial comparisons to enable you to identify trends

See sample report: D&B European Compact Report
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D&B U.S. Payment Analysis Report
Using payment performance information to assess your level of credit risk can be of even greater predictive value when performance is traced over time providing you with keener insight into a firm's likelihood to pay. D&B's Payment Analysis Report offers detailed payment and historical information, including a 12-month trend report on a company's probability of delinquency. The report includes:

• Industry comparisons of payment history and trends
• Important legal activities or special events to alert you to any occurrences that may impact a firm's ability to pay promptly
• Information on banking relationships
• Summary of payment habits and payment analysis by industry

See sample report: D&B U.S. Payment Analysis Report
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Solutions for Your Medium to Higher Risk Decisions

D&B European Report

When your decisions become more complex - when there's more at stake or greater risk - you need higher level analysis to support your decisions. The D&B European Report, the backbone of the European product line, provides you with the information that can assist you in making those more significant cross-border business decisions. Building on the data from the European Compact Report, it additionally provides:

• Payment habits
• Detailed financial data including key financial indicators
• Corporate structure and operational details of the business
• Relevant press coverage on business and commentary by members of the organization's senior management

See sample report: D&B European Report
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D&B U.S. Business Information Report
When you need extensive background information on a company, its trade and banking experiences, and financial and public record information, turn to D&B's Business Information Report. Providing a solid foundation to help evaluate your medium-to-higher risk decisions, the report includes basic information such as address, phone number, line of business and year started, plus:

• Financial information
• Payment experiences
• Corporate structure
• Suits, liens and judgments
• Operational information
• Banking relationships

See sample report: D&B U.S. Business Information Report
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D&B U.S. Credit Scoring Report
In fast moving markets, a credit application held in review can become a customer lost to the competition. But a quick decision that's wrong can hurt your bottom line. 

D&B Commercial Credit Scoring Report can be the perfect tool when you need to make fast credit decisions without in-depth analysis. It combines sophisticated statistical analysis with current business information to produce an easy to use score that can help you predict the likelihood of severe payment delinquency over the next 12 months. Using the full range of D&B information, the report includes:

• Percent of balances past due
• Accounts placed for collection
• Financial position
• Public filings
• Updated background information

See sample report: D&B U.S. Credit Scoring Report
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D&B U.S. Financial Stress Scoring Report
Another decision support option from D&B's suite of predictive scoring solutions, the D&B Financial Stress Scoring Report can help you predict the likelihood of business failure over the next 18 months. D&B is the only complete source of business failure statistics, and our information is used by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Business Week's Leading Indicators Index. The information in the report includes:

• Company overview
• Risk findings
• Financial stress analysis information including key business and financial commentaries
• Financial section providing statements used to drive the score
• Special events identifying situations that may indicate increased risk
• Financial stress failure table

See sample report: D&B U.S. Financial Stress Scoring Report
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D&B U.S. Supplier Evaluation Report
How do you evaluate and assess the risk of doing business with a supplier? You can quickly and confidently assess the risk of doing business with a new or existing supplier with the D&B Supplier Evaluation Report. It features a wealth of information including:

• A risk score 
• The incidence of financial stress and a financial profile 
• Public filings in D&B's files 
• Federal Government information
• Payment trends 

See sample report: D&B U.S. Supplier Evaluation Report
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Solutions for Your Higher Risk Decisions

D&B European Comprehensive Report
The premier product in the European portfolio, the D&B European Comprehensive Report gives you a comprehensive picture on your existing or potential cross-border trading partners. To meet the increasingly complex needs of the international decision maker, this tool can provide the level of detail you need to help you make objective assessments of the strength and risk level associated with a business. Additionally, it provides:

• Payment trends
• Legal filings
• Comprehensive financial performance comparison and performance ratios
• D&B Claims information
• D&B Rating comparison to industry norms

See sample report: D&B European Comprehensive Report
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D&B U.S. Comprehensive Report
There are times when your credit decisions require more in-depth information, the kind that can provide insight into a firm's long term operations, profitability and stability. Complex, higher risk decisions call for powerful analytical tools, the kind you'll find in the D&B Comprehensive Report. By helping you evaluate a company's past and future, it can provide you with the tools you need to help manage high risk situations with speed and certainty. Each report contains information in the D&B Business Information Report plus:

• Predictive scores
• Comparisons of company performance with industry norms
• Summarized business information on payment trends, public record filings and financial performance

See sample report: D&B U.S. Comprehensive Report
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Country Riskline Reports -
Assess country-specific risk before trading overseas
Exporting to markets you haven't researched is a high-risk operation. There are credit risk tools that can help you. But, what of the countries themselves? You can get the facts, figures and forecasts to support your trading decisions with Dun & Bradstreet's Country Riskline Reports. Whether you're trading in Norway or Nigeria, India or the United States, you can check on existing economic conditions and trends, payment terms, trading regulations and much more. D&B's Country Riskline Reports give you the big picture on trading conditions in 131 countries worldwide. And monthly issues ensure that you get the most up-to-date analysis on developments in each market. Now available online, you can monitor and research the country of your choice without having to leave your desk.

See sample report: Country Riskline Reports Go back to report selections

Instant Access To A World Of Information
Now you can order and receive your reports right from D&B's website. Use your unique subscriber number, user ID, and password to access information from anywhere in the world.