The ongoing euro debt crisis is clearly reflected in present B2B payment behaviour according to a new study from credit insurer Atradius (Amsterdam / The Netherlands; www.atradius.com). It has established that Greek companies take an average of 92 days to pay their invoices, which is 15 days more than the agreed payment period of 77 days. In addition, 6% of domestic receivables were reported as uncollectable. In second place among the defaulting countries is Spain, where bills take 87 days to be paid despite the average payment target of 74 days.

"A further worsening of the euro crisis would lead to even more restrictive lending by the local banks in the countries particularly affected by the debt crisis like Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, and thus result in a further deterioration in payment behaviour in these markets," warned Michael Karrenberg, head of Risk Management at Atradius. Worldwide, more than 30% of invoices are paid late. In Germany, the figure is even higher: More than a third (37%) of all bills from German companies for export orders are not paid on time.

"Due to the continuing debt crisis, exporters face increasing uncertainty as to whether the financial difficulties in the euro zone will also affect the credit standing of their business partners," said Dr. Thomas Langen, Senior Regional Director for Germany, central and eastern Europe. "We are observing more and more frequently that companies are checking the creditworthiness of their business partners – especially abroad – before signing any contracts."

At Atradius, demand for protection against bad debt losses for Italian customers shot up by 47% in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same period of the previous year. Both the German and the international participants in the study said the most common reason for delayed payment was a lack of liquidity.

Greece tops the list: 84% of the Greek companies covered by the survey said insufficiency of available funds was the reason for the late payment of invoices. One in every two German companies endeavours to speed up payment by granting a discount for prompt settlement, but customer response is very modest. For the companies, it is often more favourable to make use of the supplier's credit and pay later," said Karrenberg.

Credit insurance company Atradius publishes its "Payment Practices Barometer" twice a year. For the present study, Atradius surveyed 5,400 cross-industry companies from 27 major global economies.