Premium savings products, a question of agility
The swift reconfiguration of CNP Patrimoine and its spectacular growth in 2014 illustrate our ability to transform our business by building positions in high margin, high potential segments.
In April 2014, we made the strategic decision to invest in the premium savings segment by setting up a dedicated organisation. CNP Patrimoine was created in 1997 to serve the independent financial advisors market. It has been transformed into a “start-up” boasting all of the required skill sets and open to new partners. The new-look CNP Patrimoine is going on the offensive.
The successful Cachemire Patrimoine offer, a springboard for growth
In 2014, new money invested in our premium savings offer totalled €1.2 billion. Cachemire Patrimoine distributed by La Banque Postale has been a spectacular success, generating premium income of €900 million in its first year. Of the total, an impressive 31.1% was invested in unit-linked funds.
The result of close cooperation between our teams and those of our partner, all aspects of the Cachemire Patrimoine offer are closely aligned with the needs of La Banque Postale’s wealth management customers. It is also perfectly aligned with the Bank’s strategic priority, giving wealth managers a further reason to promote it among customers.
The outlook for premium savings products is also good in the BPCE Group’s networks. The relaunched offer distributed through BPCE subsidiary Banque Privée 1818 in late 2014 attracted €20 million in new money in just one month. At the same time, new partnerships with private banking institutions, family offices and groups of independent financial advisors have put CNP Assurances’s premium savings offer centre stage, with new money at over €260 million.
A responsive premium savings organisation
The new CNP Patrimoine organisation focuses exclusively on premium savings products. With all of the required skill sets, it operates with a high degree of independence within the Open Model business unit and has its own back office team. CNP Patrimoine offers a full range of services to its partners and their customers, from bespoke product design to dedicated contract administration.
For greater agility, policy administration has been outsourced to QIS - Quality Insurance Services, an innovative third-party life insurance administrator. With 15 years’ experience, a reputation for high quality customer service and recognised unit-linked management capabilities, QIS’s teams contribute significantly to our premium savings business’s agility and innovation-led strategy.
CNP Patrimoine’s latest offer, CNP One
While our foremost strategic goal is to provide more effective support to our two major distribution partners, La Banque Postale and the Caisses d’Epargne networks, this is closely followed by the goal of extending our reach by deploying the open distribution model more widely. To help win over new partners in the buoyant premium savings segment, CNP Patrimoine has developed a dedicated offer – CNP One. This premium traditional savings contract with a unit-linked formula incorporates the best market standards. For a minimum investment of €250,000, the product offers a wide range of unit-linked funds. In addition, all management options – customer-led, discretionary or manager-guided – are available, and interfaces can be set up with various asset managers, banks and brokers. Contract administration is outsourced to QIS.
CNP ONE, destined for success
Yves Bidel, Chairman of QIS - Quality Insurance Services
“After a design and configuration phase lasting nine months, during which the teams successfully pooled the best of their expertise, we are convinced that CNP One is destined for success in the premium savings market.”
Meeting savers’ demands
Marine de Bouchony, CNP Patrimoine Product Manager
“The low interest rate environment encourages customers to invest their savings in products that are managed actively and responsively. Our new premium savings offers – Cachemire Patrimoine distributed by La Banque Postale and CNP One for open model distribution – meet these demands. This is evidenced by the steep rise in the proportion of new money invested in unit-linked funds, cementing the products’ attractiveness for our partners.”
16 new partnerships signed in 2014 with private banking institutions, family offices and leading wealth management specialists.
Over €1.2 bn in new money recorded by CNP Patrimoine over eight months of operation in 2014, compared with a full-year target of €2 billion within two years.
Innovation, CNP Assurances is present in unexpected areas
With a new organisation supported by a responsive, expert platform, a new premium savings offer and the first distribution partnerships, the campaign to win over wealth management customers is underway.
An innovative partnership with Nortia
This is the first large-scale partnership signed by CNP Assurances in the premium savings segment. Nortia has over 20 years’ experience of developing financial solutions and distributing premium savings and pension contracts through a network of 450 independent financial advisors. Nortia is recognized not only for its latest generation financial investments, but also for its technological innovations, such as the electronic signature solution that makes life simpler for its partners and their high net worth customers. Nortia’s agility backed by the trusted CNP Assurances brand offers promising joint development opportunities in the very attractive wealth management market.
Digital innovation with Granit
High net worth customers have high expectations. CNP Patrimoine enables its partners to meet these customers’ expectations by providing an immediate response to their applications through the Granit pre-sale service platform. By introducing digital underwriting processes, we have given our partners the ability to say “yes in principle” in the majority of cases. The Granit platform simplifies tendering processes by comparing all available offers in order to propose the best solution. It allows partners to demonstrate the responsiveness that can make all the difference when competing for business.
More than that, Granit will drive the process of continuous innovation that will help CNP Patrimoine to provide better advice, services and tools, and will enhance relations with our partners and their customers.
More than ever the key to success lies in the quality of service we offer our partners and customers.
Three questions for
Laurent Jumelle, Director of CNP Patrimoine, part of the Open Model business unit
Isn’t CNP Assurances coming too late to this segment?
On the contrary, CNP Assurances’s recent arrival in this segment allows us to capitalise on the experience of the various players and to adopt the best solutions in the market, in terms of both product offers and management solutions.
What will it take to outperform more established players?
Obviously, we need a strong brand and high quality products, but more than ever the key to success lies in the quality of service we offer our partners and customers. Our partnership with QIS is a key differentiating factor in this regard.
What’s the most innovative aspect of the CNP Patrimoine adventure?
It’s our ability to offer our partners the best of two complementary worlds – first, the world of CNP Assurances, a major institution with a strong capital base, considerable expertise and a solid ethical track record and, second, that of QIS, an SME with 50 employees, giving it a human dimension, that is responsive, innovative and close to its customers.
Responsiveness, a deciding factor
François Guilgot, CNP Patrimoine Development Manager
“Responsiveness is a deciding factor for our partners when it comes to winning new customers, which is why we developed Granit. This interactive digital application allows them to obtain, with just a few clicks of the mouse, an agreement in principle and a financial offer for their tenders in compliance with CNP Patrimoine’s underwriting policy as well as preliminary approval of new unit-linked funds.”