Question n°6
John Semler
Chief Executive Officer BauFi Secure
Hamburg, Germany
You are a large European group, but what do you offer specifically to the German market?
Answer
CNP Assurances is committed to the diversification of its businesses, partnerships and distribution methods in Europe, where its shareholder base and its financial solidity allow it to invest on a long-term basis. On these markets, CNP Assurances provides the expertise and the services of an insurer leading the way in protecting people. The Group does not tack on pre-existing schemes. Its model, based on partnership, enables it to adapt to the reality of each country, to identify needs and to co-construct made-to-measure solutions.
Thus, CNP Assurances supports its partners in Germany with a distinctive insurance offer which protects their term creditor insurance customers.
€492 million premium income made by CNP Santander Insurance in 2015, more than half of it in Germany
With revenue of nearly €4 billion the Group is the leading term credit insurer in Europe
Jean-Christophe Mérer
Director of CNP Partners, Spain
With CNP Partners, we intend to speed up our development in Southern Europe (Italy, Spain and Portugal) with a resolutely multi-partnership and multi-channel model. We have a servicing subsidiary, a call centre answering in six languages, four associated insurance branch offices and 200 employees. Our two key development targets are wealth management, in particular in Italy, and personal risk and protection insurance. We use partners in bancassurance, private banks and brokers to distribute these products, and we will continue to experiment with “100% digital” direct sales in Spain.
Strategic co-construction in Germany
On 1 January 2015, CNP Assurances opened a representative office in Munich and immersed itself in the reality of the German property market.
2,500 financial institutions and 250,000 intermediaries market mortgages there, with a value of €180 billion per year. Only 30% of German households insure their borrowing. In order to create a solution to protect all those families without cover, the CNP Germany team relied on the Group’s experts in term credit insurance to create a bespoke offer. The marketing, actuarial and legal teams adapted the French model to the rules and specific practices of the German market and to its powerful distribution networks. Simplified medical formalities and digitisation of the subscription process made the insurance more attractive, because it is necessary to convince German households that wish to secure their loan transaction long-term.
At the same time, the canvassing of future distributors continues.
The first partnerships with property lending professionals, attracted by CNP Assurances’ innovative and co-constructive approach, are in the process of being finalised.
€180 billion in property loans are granted every year in Germany, only 30% of which are covered by insurance
4th largest European personal risk and protection insurer
Increased foothold in Europe
The partnership with Banco Santander, the leading consumer credit company, strengthens the Group’s European foothold. The common subsidiary CNP Santander Insurance has access to ten countries including seven that are new for CNP Assurances: the Nordic countries, Austria, Poland and above all, Germany. Germany becomes the Group’s second largest European market (excluding France) after Italy. In Southern Europe, the Group is continuing with its development, in particular in partnership with CNP UniCredit in Italy, and using an open model via CNP CIH in Cyprus, and CNP Partners in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The European profile is in line with the Group’s strategic policies. In 2014, more than 50% of the Group’s revenue was made up of pension savings in euros. In 2015, nearly 72% consisted of unit-linked pension savings and in personal risk and protection.
This radical change arises primarily from Italy where the proportion of unit-linked products has almost doubled. In its first full year, CNP Santander Insurance has kept its promises. It has generated premium income of €492 million in consumer credit insurance, more than half of this in Germany.
In 2016, CNP Assurances confirms its commitment to wealth management in unit-linked products and to personal risk and protection. Along with Santander Consumer Finance, the Group is working on a distance-selling strategy for personal risk and protection products, which will capitalise on the relationship of trust created around credit. The development of term credit insurance via new banking partnerships remains a priority. Experiments with digital distribution will also be conducted in Spain and Germany using the term credit insurance model that was a success in France, including electronic signatures.