Debt collection, the recovery of outstanding commercial payments, poses a great challenge to internationally active companies in particular. Euler Hermes, the world leading credit insurer, likens the various practices and levels of difficulty in individual countries to '50 Shades of Grey'. The credit insurer didn't quite examine 50 countries, but looked at 44 different countries in its current study and league table - however, the gray areas between 'the good, the bad and the ugly' are huge. In addition to a country's payment culture, the efficiency or corruption levels of the legal system and the difficulty and success rate of insolvency proceedings play a key role. Sweden is in first place, with the lowest level of complexity associated with collecting unpaid debts, similar to Germany (2nd), and its neighbors in Austria (3rd) and Switzerland (4th place).
At the bottom of the list: Saudi Arabia, behind the UAE, Russia and China
"Together with the U.S. as a result of their poor payment culture, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland are ranked as the 'under-achievers' as far as debt collection is concerned," said Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist at the Euler Hermes Group. "However, it's generally extremely difficult to collect outstanding debts in Saudi Arabia, which is placed at the bottom of the league behind the UAE, Russia and China. China is an important growth market for many German exporters - however, payment deadlines are excessively long, late payment of fees is not efficiently regulated and there is a lack of transparency in the justice system. In addition, the law does not, for example, impose any restrictions on a Chinese trader wanting to open a new business - regardless of whether he had previously been responsible for a company's bankruptcy and not paid off his creditors."