SCOR, the French global reinsurance giant, has reorganised its SCOR Global P&C division and added a new unit named P&C Partners which will have a remit including third-party capital and retrocession activities, as well as alternative solutions, InsurTech investing and other partnerships.
The new unit provides SCOR with a particularly focused group that can look to ensure the reinsurance firm is ready to take advantage of all opportunities presented to it from sources such as the capital markets and reinsurance convergence arena.
P&C Partners will have four dedicated decision-making committees led by people from the SCOR P&C leadership team in order to provide the company with “rapid responses, promote consistency, and provide clear pathways for innovative ideas,” the reinsurer said this morning at its investor day.
The company has today announced a new organisational structure for its SCOR Global P&C business, in order to address the evolving needs of its clients and to reinforce its position as a leading reinsurer in a rapidly changing marketplace.
Three new business areas are being created within SCOR Global P&C, Reinsurance, P&C Partners and Specialty Insurance, which the company says will support its ambitions for the future.
SCOR P&C Partners will have four core areas, each with its own committee: Alternative Solutions and Technical Development; P&C Ventures and Strategic Partnerships; Retrocession, Outwards Reinsurance and 3rd Party Capital; and Underwriting Management.
The Alternative Solutions area will help to develop new and customised, non-traditional reinsurance products and client offerings.
Ventures and Strategic Partnerships is where the Insurtech focus will be, with InsurTech investments, partnerships with tech firms and sharing of expertise all under its remit.
Retrocession, outwards reinsurance and third-party capital is of course where our keenest interest lies, as this is where SCOR will interface with its retro providers, the capital markets and ILS funds, in designing outwards retro programs and solutions, as well as internal retro and reinsurance pricing operations.
Underwriting management will articulate the SCOR risk appetite, providing underwriting guidelines and risk assessment.
SCOR has named Sylvie Van Viet, who has been Head of Underwriting Management and Retrocession at SCOR Global P&C, as the CEO of the newly created P&C Partners business unit. She will have overall responsibility for the retro, outwards reinsurance and third-party capital activities of the reinsurer.
Vincent Foucart, has been named as one Deputy CEO of P&C Partners leading the Alternative Solutions & Technical Development area. However Foucart has recently been significantly involved in the development of ILS Strategies for SCOR so is likely to continue to have input here, we believe.
Adrian Jones has also been appointed as a Deputy CEO of P&C Partners, with responsibility for the P&C Ventures & Strategic Partnerships area. Jones has significant experience in the InsurTech world and has been leading much of SCOR’s activity in this space to-date.
Also newsworthy are the appointments of Jean-Paul Conoscente and Umberto Gavazzi as CEO and Deputy CEO of the SCOR Global P&C Reinsurance business unit, the firms core area.
Finally, Laurent Rousseau has been named CEO of the new Specialty Insurance business unit, in addition to being Deputy CEO of SCOR Global P&C and a member of the reinsurers’ Executive Committee.
The changes to structure and appointments will ensure SCOR is ready to react to market changes and the structural evolution of reinsurance, with third-party capital likely to play an increasingly important role.
SCOR has been utilising the capital markets for its retrocession for many years, with Atlas catastrophe bonds and collateralized sidecars, as well as collateralized participation directly in its retro layers.
But going forwards even the world’s largest reinsurers will have to embrace third-party capital more directly as an efficient form of capital, an alternative balance-sheet and even a lever for growth.
The organisational changes announced today help prepare SCOR for the future of reinsurance.
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