(AOF) – Claire McDonald joins SCOR as Managing Director of Scor Business Solutions (SBS), the group’s unit dedicated to large corporate risks which was previously called Scor Specialty Insurance. She will also be a member of the Executive Committee. She will be responsible for establishing the position of Scor Business Solutions as a specialty insurer with great technical expertise and will focus particularly on building a balanced and resilient portfolio, in line with the objectives defined in the three-year strategic plan. Scor, Forward 2026.
Based in London, Claire McDonald will report to Jean-Paul Conoscente, Managing Director of Scor P&C. His appointment will be effective on September 1, 2024.
Romain Launay, who until now held the position of Managing Director of Scor Specialty Insurance, is leaving the group to devote himself to new professional opportunities.
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Key points
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Fifth global reinsurer born in 1970, leader in Europe
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– Very safe risk profile: the most geographically diversified reinsurer and equitable distribution between life reinsurance under the Scor Global Life brand (more than half of the premiums) and non-life reinsurance under the Scor PC brand;
– Gross premiums amounting to €17.6 billion and successful diversification in asset management with a portfolio of €20.3 billion, 8/10ths invested in bonds;
– Business model organized into 3 autonomous management “hubs” (the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA), with underwriting and claims management depending on the life and non-life divisions;
– Open capital, the first shareholders being, at the end of September, Covea (8.78%) ahead of ACM (5.21%) and the employees (3.79%), Fabrice Brégier chairing the board of directors of 16 members and Thierry Léger as general manager;
– Solid financial situation with, at the end of June, equity of €5 billion and an improvement in the debt ratio, to 20.1%.
Challenges
– Forward 2026 Strategy:
– focus on 3 activities:
– life and health: profit between €500 and €600 million,
– damages: annual increase of 4 to 6% in revenues, combined ratio less than 87% and natural disaster expense ratio at 10% of revenues,
– investments: rate of return between 3.4 and 3.6% over the period,
– annual growth rate of economic value of 9%, solvency ratio maintained between 185 and 220% and return on equity of + 12%;
– Innovation strategy aimed at designing the reinsurance of the future:
– new solutions: parametric reinsurance, exploitation and analysis of data for clients via the DASP platform, for clients,
– launch of the hELIOS platform and partnership with start-ups and Insurtech,
– cybersecurity internally and for customers,
– 250 ME of investments in technologies;
– Environmental strategy at the heart of the strategy, reinsurers being very exposed to climate risks:
– CO2 neutral investment portfolio in 2050,
– support for research on climate risks,
– creation of specific offers -FEEL, BAM or VITAE- in life reinsurance,
– use of carbon credits and launch of a “green” credit facility;
– Normalization of shareholding in the fall by repurchase of its stake in Covéa, which will, by the end of the year, be transferred to Cardif, the insurance subsidiary of BNPParibas;
– 3 supporting elements: the increase in property and casualty reinsurance rates, the end of the impact of Covid and the increase in interest rates.
Challenges
– Sensitivity to natural disasters (being reduced by a strict subscription policy) and to the parity of € vs. $ and £, the currencies in which most of the income is denominated;
– Evolution of the economic value, of €54 per share;
– Result of the arbitration on the conditions of transfer to Covea of the American life portfolio;
– After an increase in half-year profit to €502 million at the end of June, 2023 objectives of growth in economic value and a solvency ratio at the top of the 187 -220% range.
A great dynamic of development for French life insurance
The progression of life insurance continues over the months. Over the first four months of the year, contributions reached 53.7 billion euros, a level not seen in more than ten years. At 10.5 billion euros, net collection also returned to its highest level since 2011 over a similar period. Ultimately, at the end of April 2022, outstanding life insurance contracts reached 1,847 billion euros, up 1.1% year-on-year. These good performances are partly linked to the growing success of the PER (Retirement Savings Plan). Since the start of 2022, the PERs marketed by an insurer have shown 592,000 additional policyholders and 9.3 billion euros in payments. At the end of April 2022, 3.2 million policyholders held a PER, which represented an outstanding amount of 39 billion euros. Without taking transfers into account, 87% of new PER holders (at the end of December 2021) had taken it out with an insurer.