Exceptional Growth Across All Sectors

Crédit Agricole Assurances experienced a landmark year in 2024, demonstrating significant progress across its diverse portfolio. The company’s consolidated turnover reached €43.6 billion, marking a ample 13.2% increase compared to 2023. This growth underscores the effectiveness of Crédit Agricole Assurances’ strategic initiatives and its ability to capitalize on market opportunities.

The savings-retirement sector emerged as a primary driver of this success,accounting for approximately 74% of the total turnover,or €32.1 billion, a notable 21.5% increase. This highlights the increasing demand for secure and reliable retirement solutions amidst evolving economic conditions. Concurrently, the provident, borrower insurance, and collective insurance segments also exhibited robust performance, contributing €5.3 billion, a 4.6% rise. The health sector, notably collective health insurance, demonstrated substantial growth, reflecting the rising importance of thorough employee benefits packages.

Damage insurance also saw considerable gains, driven by both price adjustments in response to inflation and climate-related events, and a consistent 3% annual portfolio expansion over the past decade. This resulted in an 8.2% increase in turnover, reaching €6.2 billion.Furthermore, Crédit Agricole Assurances’ international operations experienced a significant resurgence, achieving over €7 billion in turnover, a remarkable 44% increase compared to the previous year. This international growth signals the company’s expanding global footprint and its ability to effectively serve diverse markets.

Strategic Business Unit Structure

To optimize operational efficiency and market responsiveness,Crédit Agricole Assurances is organized into five distinct business units (BUs). This structure facilitates a focused approach to each key area of the insurance market.

1. Individual Retirement Savings: This BU focuses on providing tailored retirement savings solutions to individual clients, addressing their specific financial needs and goals.
2. Provident and Borrower insurance: This unit encompasses products designed to protect against death and disability risks, offering financial security to borrowers and their families.
3. Collective Insurance: This BU caters to the needs of large companies, offering comprehensive insurance packages for employees, including retirement, provident, and health benefits. This unit leverages synergies with amundi’s employee savings activities,employing specific pricing and distribution strategies.
4. Damage insurance: This unit focuses on providing coverage against property and casualty losses, protecting businesses and individuals from unforeseen events.
5. International Activities: This BU manages Crédit Agricole Assurances’ global operations, adapting its products and services to meet the unique demands of international markets.

This organizational structure reflects a dual focus on industrial efficiency and effective distribution, ensuring that Crédit Agricole Assurances can deliver its products and services to customers in a seamless and targeted manner.

Targeting the Business Damage Market

Crédit Agricole assurances has adopted a strategic partnership approach to penetrate the business damage market. Since 2021,the company has collaborated with Crédit Agricole regional funds and is expanding this collaboration to include the LCL network. This collaborative model leverages the regional funds’ expertise in identifying target customers, leading commercial initiatives, and providing strategic risk insights.

Unlike some competitors, Crédit Agricole Assurances is not targeting large corporations. Instead, the company focuses on serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a segment often underserved by larger insurance providers. This targeted approach allows Crédit Agricole Assurances to tailor its products and services to the specific needs of SMEs, offering customized solutions and personalized support.

crédit Agricole Assurances provides its regional partners with underwriting expertise to assess risks and develop tailored guarantees and pricing. A dedicated network of approximately thirty experienced underwriters,specializing in MRE (Marine,Risks,and Surroundings) and floats,supports the sales network. Each underwriter covers one to two regional funds, ensuring close collaboration and effective knowledge sharing. This network has proven highly effective in promoting Crédit Agricole Assurances’ comprehensive range of IARD (Insurance for Property Damage and Civil Liability) offerings. The company reported a substantial increase in turnover of 96% and a 40% increase in the number of contracts between the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, demonstrating the success of this strategic approach.

Supporting SMEs with Comprehensive Insurance Solutions

Crédit Agricole Assurances (CAA) is committed to providing a broad spectrum of insurance products tailored to the needs of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Their offerings range from multi-risk business insurance to automotive fleet coverage.By forging internal partnerships, particularly with CAMCA for construction-related risks, and external collaborations, such as their partnership with Hiscox for cyber risk, CAA ensures comprehensive coverage for SMEs across diverse sectors.

This strategic approach allows CAA to address a wide array of SME requirements, ensuring that businesses have access to the necessary protection against potential risks. According to recent industry reports, SMEs are increasingly vulnerable to a variety of threats, including cyberattacks and climate-related disruptions, making comprehensive insurance solutions more critical than ever.

Balancing Risk and Solidarity: A Vision for Territorial Insurance

In an era where hypersegmentation strategies and data-driven risk assessments are becoming increasingly prevalent, Crédit Agricole Assurances champions a model that balances individual obligation with national solidarity. this approach ensures that insurance pricing reflects risk exposure while maintaining accessibility for all territories.

CAA actively supports the work of the Central Reinsurance Caisse (CCR),particularly its observatory of insurance,which maps high-risk areas and monitors insurance trends. This strategic study is crucial for preserving insurance accessibility across France. The core principle of insurance lies in risk pooling, and without this foundation, its purpose is undermined.

Insurance is based on pooling, without this principle, it loses all its meaning.

While territorial presence is crucial, CAA emphasizes the significance of an insurer’s ongoing commitment to a region. Disengagement from a territory is more concerning than the initial absence of an insurer. The observatory’s role is to consider the unique characteristics of both local and national actors, ensuring that insurance remains an accessible and vital product for all French territories.

The Impact of Climate Change on Reinsurance

The escalating frequency and severity of climate-related claims have significantly impacted reinsurance coverage. It’s crucial to distinguish between public and private reinsurance in this context. crédit Agricole Assurances remains dedicated to the maintenance and sustainability of the natural disaster compensation scheme, which has proven highly effective in France.

France stands out globally for its robust protection against natural disasters, largely due to its effective risk pooling system and financial support for risk guarantees. This makes insurance accessible and affordable,fostering national solidarity thru the Cat Nat regime.

According to the global ranking of the Swiss Re Institute, France is the country where citizens are best protected in the event of a natural disaster.
Swiss Re Institute

Private reinsurance is equally vital to CAA’s operations.After experiencing substantial price increases in reinsurance treaties for 2023, with rises of up to 40%, the market has begun to stabilize. While prices continued to climb in December 2023, the increases were more moderate, ranging from 5% to 10%. For 2025,prices have seen a decrease,indicating a rebalancing of supply and demand in the reinsurance market.

The Evolving Reinsurance Coverage Perimeter

The reinsurance market has seen a notable shift in recent years. Following the market adjustments in December 2022,insurers are now facing both increased prices and higher retention levels. This means insurers are retaining more risk on their balance sheets. Consequently, the volatility of insurers’ technical results has seen a slight uptick compared to pre-2023 levels.

All the yields have seen their levels of retention increase.This means that the volatility of the technical results of insurers is slightly higher than it was before reinforcement of the reinsurance market in December 2022.

New Normality: Higher Retention Levels

The dynamics of risk transfer between insurers and reinsurers have stabilized at a new equilibrium. The increased retention levels observed over the past two years are now considered the norm. A return to previous, lower retention levels is not anticipated, primarily due to the structural increase in climatic risks. This necessitates a revised approach to risk sharing, with insurers retaining a larger portion of the risk.

This shift is driven by the growing impact of secondary perils and a long-term perspective that fully integrates the effects of climate change. The reinsurance market is adapting to a world where extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, impacting the financial stability of insurers.

the retention increases observed in the last two years have become the new normality. We do not envisage a return to previous retention levels, as climatic risks increase structurally.

According to a recent report by Swiss Re, global insured losses from natural catastrophes reached $100 billion in 2024, highlighting the increasing financial burden on the insurance industry. This underscores the need for insurers to carefully manage their risk exposure and adjust their reinsurance strategies accordingly.

Digitalization: A Strategic Imperative

Digital transformation is now a core priority for insurers. The traditional bancassurance model, heavily reliant on physical agencies, is evolving to meet the demands of customers who seek greater autonomy through online platforms and mobile applications. Insurers are accelerating their digitalization efforts to strengthen all digital channels.

For exmaple, Crédit Agricole’s “My Bank” submission allows customers to subscribe to almost all damage insurance products.LCL’s “My Accounts” app offers similar functionality. The goal is to extend this digital accessibility to provident, savings, and all insurance products. The integration of insurance options within banking apps, coupled with amplified digital marketing campaigns, has demonstrably increased sales from digital leads.

We have accelerated digitalization and continue to strengthen all digital routes.

The “My Bank” application is the most frequently used financial services app in France, boasting 11 million unique monthly visitors. This highlights the significant potential of digital channels for reaching and engaging customers.

This digital shift mirrors a broader trend in the financial services industry. A recent study by Accenture found that 75% of consumers prefer to interact with their financial institutions through digital channels, underscoring the importance of investing in digital capabilities.