NCM had been founded in 1925 with the goal of improving trade for companies in the Netherlands. From 1932 onwards it also became the arm of the Dutch government through which it provided export credit services to Dutch companies. Atradius still performs this function through its affiliate Atradius Dutch State Business.

Both Gerling Credit and NCM made their own acquisitions before their combination, including the acquisition by NCM of the short-term arm of the UK government’s Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) in 1991 and private insurers such as Namur Assurances du Crédit S.A., Belgium by Gerling Credit in 1994, both of which have their own histories dating back to the birth of trade credit insurance around 1919.

The now international group was renamed Atradius in 2004. In 2008 the group merged with the Spanish credit insurer Crédito y Caución, founded in 1929, and subsequently gained an additional foothold in the Spanish speaking world.

Although now Spanish owned, the holding company Atradius N.V. and its headquarters remain in Amsterdam, The Netherlands