It’s all about perspective. Denis Kessler, the president of Scor, has a good time pointing out the incredible managerial stability of the reinsurer, which has only had one CEO in nineteen years: him. However, since the emblematic boss abandoned the general management on June 30, 2021, it’s been a different story.
Thierry Léger, the Franco-Swiss who will take control on the 1er May, turns out to be the third successor to Mr. Kessler dubbed in two and a half years by the board of directors of Scor. A bad point in the eyes of the American rating agency Moody’s, which downgraded, Friday, February 3, the credit rating of the reinsurer. For her, this wavering puts the new management under increased pressure, which “increases execution risks in the implementation of a new strategic plan”.
Mr. Kessler, 70, is not the first corporate figure whose succession plan is experiencing misfires. From Jean-Louis Beffa to Pierre Fabre, many of the great caimans of French capitalism have had an annoying tendency to bite into the dolphin. Difficult for some to hand over, as they identify with their company.
The former economics professor denies it. “The only thing that drives me is to ensure that the company to which I have devoted half my professional life grows and improves while remaining independent.assures the one whose mandate as president will end in May 2024, during the general meeting. I want to leave leaving a company in good order. » A conviction all the more anchored as the former number two of the Medef is the rectifier of this financial institution on the brink of the abyss twenty years ago. Called to the rescue on All Saints Sunday in November 2002, Mr. Kesssler made him a world number four.
Surprise
Reinsurance is a funny business. It consists in taking the risks which the insurers themselves want to get rid of, because they consider them too random, too heavy, too complex. This requires considerable expertise to correctly model the extension of lifespan or the occurrence of earthquakes and avoid ending up with claims on all floors.
Hence the surprise, when the board of directors of Scor announced, on December 16, 2020, that Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas, former director of the cabinet of Edouard Philippe at Matignon, who came from industry, will become general manager, “following the 2022 Annual General Meeting”. In truth, behind the facade of unanimity, the “board” was divided. About half of the directors had supported the other finalist, Frédéric de Courtois, then with the Italian insurer Generali.
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