Drama at Scor. While the succession of Denis Kessler at the head of the group seemed well under way with the arrival of Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas to replace him as general manager in a year, the process came to an abrupt halt. For some ” personal reasons “, the current CEO has asked to be relieved of his duties as CEO in June, at the end of his current mandate, which will expire at the general meeting of June 30. He will remain chairman of the world’s fourth largest reinsurer.
The board of directors, which met on Monday, May 17, decided to propose to the meeting, one year ahead of schedule, the separation of the functions of chairman and chief executive officer. The position of non-executive chairman will go to Denis Kessler, and that of general manager, and this is the surprise, not to Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas, but to Laurent Rousseau, deputy general manager of Scor Global P & C, president of Scor Europe and member of the group’s executive committee.
The choice of the former chief of staff of Edouard Philippe in Matignon had yet been stopped in December 2020. In January, he joined Scor as deputy director general. The idea was to form a tandem with Denis Kessler for eighteen months: as this former senior official had never worked in insurance before, it was difficult for him to grant him the status of “effective manager” without putting himself in charge. violation of European regulations.
Reshuffled Cards
Indeed, in December, the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR), which is the regulatory authority for the sector and which, since the Solvency 2 regulation of 2015, appoints the CEOs of insurance and security companies. reinsurance, had warned that it took at least a year in the group for Mr. Ribadeau-Dumas to take the lead.
The reinsurer had therefore found an arrangement: Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas joined Scor at 1er January 2021 as deputy managing director, but he was not to take over the general management until the end of the general assembly of spring 2022. The early withdrawal of Denis Kessler has reshuffled the cards, since the former collaborator of Edouard Philippe will only have spent five months with the group.
“It stops, I regret it, responded Mr. Ribadeau-Dumas. The Board of Directors of Scor has decided that following Denis Kessler’s decision not to seek the renewal of his term as CEO, the succession process decided in December 2020 could no longer be carried out. I have too much respect for corporate governance not to respect this decision. “
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