Covéa continues its expansion by maintaining its solvency margin at a high level

At his New Year’s Address to the Press, Thierry Derez, Covéa Chairman and Chief Executive, offered an initial sizing-up of the Group’s operations in 2008.

As the financial markets went into freefall and the economy into a significant slow-down, Covéa was able to capitalise on its strengths and improved its position on the market.

Sales effectiveness for all the brands

In 2008, thanks to the vitality of GMF, MAAF and MMA, Covéa continues to gain market share. Its portfolio surged ahead with a net balance of:

+ 180 000 new vehicles, for an increase of 2%, on a market where volume growth is estimated at 0.9%,
+ 140 000 new homes, posting growth of 2.2%, when housing volumes in France were expected to increase by only 1.3%.

Overall, the Group insured over 9.5 million vehicles, 6.5 million homes and 1.8 million health insurance customers.

Seeing the benefits of the cooperation strategy

The size effect and resource-pooling between the three mutual companies made it possible to improve both the quality and scope of services provided to policyholders, while also keeping costs under control:

Claims management : Covéa AIS is putting the finishing touches on its shared networks of service providers and partners (Norauto, Batirénover, etc.),
Assistance: Fidelia has become one of the top three players on the market, with coverage for all of the Group’s customers,
Health insurance: the Group is developing new and innovative services in order to guide insurance providers toward the best care at the best price.

This strategy, combined with the drop in frequency of auto claims and the lack of major events in housing, has made it possible to contain the rise in claims and maintain a price moderation policy in 2009.

Very good financial soundness

Covéa has confirmed its very good financial soundness by recording a solvency margin including latent capital gains amounting to nearly 3 times what is required by regulations.

“In 2008, thanks to the quality of its financial management, Covéa managed to steer clear of high-risk financial products and posted an excellent solvency margin. This soundness has enabled our mutual funds to maintain the confidence of our policy-holders and position themselves sustainably as leading players” - stated Thierry Derez, Covéa Chairman and Chief Executive.

Press contacts:

Françoise Ickowicz - Phone: +331 53 10 65 10 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

NEWS

Contact

RSS