CCR RE INTERNATIONAL REINSURER

In 2021, CCR Re reported excellent results. The annual targets were met or exceeded, driven by the growth in gross written premium. The target of the Streamline strategic plan is being met one year ahead of schedule. This controlled growth, which is taking place under good solvency conditions, reflects strong financial and operational momentum, supported by all the business lines at the service of the clients and partners of CCR Re, which is looking to 2022 with confidence.

Laurent Montador, Deputy CEO and Bertrand Labilloy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer.

CCR RE DELIVERS BOOSTED RESULTS ONE YEAR AHEAD OF ITS DEVELOPMENT PLAN

“A SECOND TIER, PROFITABLE AND AGILE REINSURER.”

Bertrand Labilloy

What are you taking away from 2021?

In 2020 and 2021, the world economy went through a V-cycle with a first phase of recession followed by a period of strong recovery. In this context, CCR Re has demonstrated robustness by maintaining good solvency ratios and agility in line with the growth trajectory of its 2020- 2022 Streamline development plan, most objectives of which are being achieved one year ahead of schedule. 2021 results across all our businesses have been part of a steady growth dynamic since 2016, that has erased the effects of Covid on the financial statements, with 25% cc business growth - or 21% cc excluding prior-year adjustments - increasing for the fifth consecutive year, reaching €843 million in premiums.

How is this growth in business reflected in the results?

2021 earnings and outcomes are good. They are driven by strengthened relationships with our customers, an effort that we methodically are making over time across all business lines.

Our strategy of selective and diversified development is once again reflected in these results, with 18% of new business and more than a third of clients in the portfolio for over 10 years. We are also surrounded by loyal partners.

2021 is therefore the year of the third vintage of the 157Re sidecar with one investor returning in 2022 for the fourth year in a row. This vehicle is an efficient way of using third-party capital to support CCR Re’s growth in Property Cat. Other similar projects are under consideration.

Growth was sustained in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The Life business grew by 27%, particularly in the Middle East. In Non-Life business, the 32% growth was driven, as in the previous year, by business from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. This trend is steady, as evidenced on the one hand by the drop in the combined ratio, which stands at 96.6%, is significantly lower than the 98.1% pre-pandemic level reached in 2019, and on the other hand, by the cost ratio being compressed from 5.5% in 2019 to 4.9% in 2020 and 4.3% in 2021, while maintaining capex and hiring efforts. This trend is taking place whilst ensuring good solvency conditions, with a ratio of 192%. Our investment policy makes the most of market conditions while continuing to increase ESG factors (+63%) in the portfolios, resulting in an investment yield of 1.9%, from 2.6% in 2019 due to the downward trend in bond portfolio yields. This diversification approach prevails for the risk portfolio by business line and by region with a considerable effort on Latin America. Overall, the EBITER amounted to €62 million, from €39 million in 2020 and net income more than doubled from €18 million to €41 million, allowing CCR Re to erase the impacts of the Covid pandemic on its profitability trajectory.

“THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ENCOURAGES KNOWLEDGE SHARING BETWEEN THE BUSINESS LINES AND IT SPECIALISTS WITHIN THE DIGITAL FACTORY.”

Laurent Montador

How do you explain this level of growth?

By several factors. Firstly, foresight: we cushioned the crisis with a solvency position that was consolidated by the July 2020 issuance of debt, risk diversification and a retrocession programme that proved their worth over time. Secondly, investment, which encourages the sharing of knowledge between the business lines and the digital factory over very short delivery cycles and which intensifies the use of new technologies for data management, modelling, applications and change management. Lastly, a mix of more international teams, dynamic communication and a good atmosphere that succeeded in keeping everyone actively involved during this year, which proved slightly complicated at times!

What is the style of CCR Re?

It is the story of an undertaking that has been well structured over time and has become a real start-up with the creation of the company in 2016. This can be seen in the involvement of staff and a spirit of innovation that produces business outperformance and cost optimisation in the long term. We would like to thank our shareholder, all the teams who are involved in this ambitious project, our investors and our customers, who are loyal and growing in number. If we had to sum it up, we would say: keep it simple and efficient to serve our customers. Be predictable and reliable in achieving objectives. All of this is done in accordance with our values as a responsible company.

How are you approaching 2022?

Confidently! I trust that this momentum will continue in 2022 and beyond. CCR Re has performed well during this period of crisis. We are therefore thinking about how best to ensure this great momentum continues over time.

“IN 2021, AS IN 2020, DRIVEN BY THE SAME PASSION FOR OUR PROFESSION, WE REMAINED AVAILABLE AND ATTENTIVE TO OUR CUSTOMERS DESPITE ADVERSITY.”

HERVÉ NESSI,

Chief Underwriting Officer

CCR RE, A MULTI-SPECIALIST REINSURER

Since its spin-off in 2016 and the first Renovatio strategic plan (2017- 2019), CCR Re successfully pursued its transformation to reach gross written premiums up to €843 million in 2021 and a single A rating by S&P with a stable outlook. The Streamline business plan (2020-2022), which is entering its final year, will enable CCR Re to strengthen its position in the international reinsurance market as a multispecialist, centralised Tier 2 player.

A COMPETITIVE UNDERWRITING PLATFORM

This development was successfully achieved through the evolution of CCR Re’s underwriting platform, which consolidates the expertise of the teams in underwriting, pricing and management. For example, the geographical scope of CCR Re’s business has significantly increased since the spin-off with the arrival of many underwriters bringing their expertise and knowledge of many markets whether in Africa, Latin America, Europe or Asia.

This platform also benefits from an IT architecture that has been redesigned to accelerate innovation and transformation within CCR Re. It work was therefore undertaken for several years to provide CCR Re’s teams with analysis and management tools, which are based both on artificial intelligence and on robust technologies and infrastructures.

CCR Re therefore offers its clients and partners greater technical expertise, greater responsiveness and personalised support to meet the challenges of each of them.

2021, A YEAR OF RESILIENCE

When local communication is impossible, our centralised organisational model in Paris makes sense: this year, to support our growth ambitions, we continued to expand our sales force. We hired new international underwriters in Paris, some of whom come from distant countries; men and women whose cultural diversity brings us closer to our customers despite the distance. Our centralised organisation facilitated collective responses to our clients (Life, Non-Life, Specialties) and has made it easier to offer them cross-branch and cross-country participation.

When travelling became impossible, our marketing strategy had to be reconsidered: for the past two years, this unique situation deprived us of direct meetings with our customers that are the very driving force of our business. To compensate for this, we put in place a new marketing strategy. In terms of format, the use of new adapted tools allowed us to conduct our remote conferences differently. In terms of content, a more direct and pragmatic marketing presentation enlightened our partners about who we are, what we prefer to underwrite and what we avoid underwriting.

When the world becomes increasingly risky, we more than ever play our role as reinsurer: with our ceding companies, in response to the many claims of recent years, models evolved, scenarios were readjusted and capacity requirements increased in P&C, Cyber, Life, etc. In this context of increased demand, while many reinsurers preferred to reduce their commitments, we responded by providing even more support to the market, confident in our control of risks. This is reflected in the gross written premium, which substantially rose by 25%. The increase is global, more significant in Non-Life (+24%) than in Life (+18%). In both Non-Life and Life, growth is particularly striking in Latin America (+146%) and Asia (+40%). In Non-Life, we were able to grow not only in Property & Casualty (+29%) but also in Liability lines (+34%), thanks to our strong financial position. In Life, we made some adjustments to improve profitability by favouring Life and Disability (67% of the portfolio) over Health (21% of the portfolio), specifically in the Middle East.

When market losses follow in quick succession, our results are more than resilient: 2020 was strongly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and 2021 was also very costly for the Insurance and Reinsurance sectors. The cost of damage caused by natural catastrophes is expected to reach USD 280 billion, a sharp increase compared to 2020. Hurricanes (including Hurricane Ida), wildfires and tornadoes in the United States account for the largest share in insured losses. Fortunately, CCR Re is not directly exposed to the US.

The historic floods in Europe (estimated at €11 billion) and the uprisings in South Africa were the main losses we had to deal with, in addition of course to the aftermath of the pandemic in Life, especially in Latin America and the Middle East.

Despite these violent shocks, we closed the year with very positive results (EBITER of €62M, up 59%), in line with our budget. This success validates the relevance of our underwriting policy. Over the past five years, we have built a portfolio that is diversified in every way.

- Geographical diversification: in CAT we are present in more than 80 countries;

- Diversification by line: unlike many of our competitors, we have always sought a certain balance between short and long lines, between traditional and specialised lines (17% of the Non-Life portfolio). At CCR Re, we always seek to learn positive lessons from adverse events

The fine-tuning of our treaty provisions, which began in 2020, continued. We were able to further improve the quality of our portfolio by, for example, incorporating more exclusions and limits on manmade disasters and co-insurance.

Submerged vehicles on B265 federal highway in Erftstadt, western Germany on 17 July 2021.

“THIS AGILITY CAN ONLY WORK WITH THE SUPPORT OF OUR RETROCESSION PARTNERS OVER TIME.”

MATHIEU HALM,

Head of Retrocession & Alternative Capital

AN OPTIMISED RISK MANAGEMENT POLICY

Insurance retrocession helps to optimise the use of capital and reduce the volatility of earnings. As such, it is positioned as one of the strategic axes to achieve the ambitions of the Streamline business plan.

To pursue its growth, CCR Re can count on retrocession programmes to optimise the management of its capital and to offer the best possible support for the development of its portfolio. This obviously requires agility to implement relevant solutions. However, this agility can only work with the support of our retrocession partners over time. It is therefore this strong commitment to partnership and long-term relationships that enables our retrocession teams to successfully place the various programmes even in a difficult market environment.

CThis underwriting support required an increase in the Property Cat event coverage of the programme while maintaining the commitment to protect against frequency risk through the renewal of its aggregate coverage.

Finally, CCR Re continued its policy of accessing the financial market through its reinsurance risk securitisation vehicle, 157 Re. This sidecar successfully raised 22% more funds in December 2021 than 157 Re 21 for its fourth sub-fund, 157 Re 22. This new vintage is displaying 87% growth since the first generation was issued in 2019.

This increase in capacity, in a tense market environment, demonstrates the interest of investors in accessing a diversified portfolio that benefits from the underwriting expertise and risk knowledge of CCR Re’s teams. It validates the long-term partnership strategy set up with investors. Since its inception, 157 Re has fully fulfilled its role of diversifying the sources of capacity provision.

FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA

Latin America is considered by CCR Re as a continent of major strategic interest due to the potential offered by its ongoing economic development and growing insurance penetration, combined with CCR Re’s still limited presence in the area.

Over the past five years, CCR Re has recruited underwriters with strong Latin American experience and has developed the tools and capacity to grow its portfolio in the region. CCR Re has also invested in licences to be able to do business in an increasing number of countries. Despite the recent health and monetary challenges, this strategy has proven successful as shown by the increase in gross written premium since 2017 in the table below:

CCR Re wants to strengthen its footprint in Latin America by establishing diversified and stable relationships with selected local partners. Close coordination between the Life, Non-Life and Specialty businesses is a key point to achieve visibility and recognition as a valuable and stable partner for our local customers.

LIFE

CCR Re has demonstrated its ability to establish a relevant expansion in the LATAM region within two years and to drive growth by focusing expertise and resources on a broad range of products, with selected clients and markets.

The challenge of the pandemic provided an opportunity to demonstrate our support to our business partners, beyond the provision of capacity, by also focusing on sharing expertise and offering innovative risk transfer solutions.

CCR Re bases its long-term strategy for the LATAM region on a strong belief in the resilience and high potential of the region.

NON-LIFE

We are able to underwrite all lines of business on a proportional and non-proportional treaty basis, which offers our clients a comprehensive and balanced solution.

We value extensive relationships in all industries. We seek to build long-term, trusting relationships with local and regional companies and support their growth and territorial expansion while providing technical underwriting.

Our CAT exposures are carefully managed and we are prepared to balance them with our coverage of the entire South American continent.

CREDIT GUARANTEE

We want to support economic development. Despite the difficulties regarding the economic impact of Covid-19, CCR Re signed its first reinsurance guarantee programmes in LATAM in 2021.

Latin America is growing rapidly, with each country moving at its own pace. We have begun to focus on key markets in the region, engaging with partners who have been in the business for several years, which contributes to risk mitigation in our global portfolio.

TEAM REINFORCEMENT: NON-LIFE

EMMANUEL JACQUEMIN,

HEAD OF SOUTHERN EUROPE, BENELUX & EUROPE LATIN AMERICA

Prior to joining CCR Re in February 2021, Emmanuel Jacquemin worked for 19 years in reinsurance underwriting in several countries in Southern Europe and Latin America. Between 2014 and 2021, Emmanuel was based in Colombia and was underwriter in Latin America for a leading reinsurance company.

“I am pleased to bring to CCR Re my knowledge of the LATAM market, the relationships I have built and my underwriting experience to support its profitable growth in the region. I am convinced that CCR Re has the right strategy and the right people to be recognised as a partner of choice in the region.”

Emmanuel graduated in international trade from Toulouse Business School.

JOSÉ-LUIS CAMPOS,

SENIOR UNDERWRITER LATIN AMERICA

Prior to joining CCR Re in September 2021, José Luis Campos was Senior Treaty Underwriter (Non-Life) for Latin America for one of the region’s leading reinsurers. Between 2018 and 2021, José-Luis was based in Atlanta, USA.

“With my actuarial background and experience of Latin America, I would like to act as a link between CCR Re and clients, bringing a perspective of the local business environment while remaining focused on the technicals.”

With a degree in Actuarial Sciences from the University of the Americas in Puebla (Mexico), José-Luis has more than 17 years of experience in the insurance industry, providing experience in claims, underwriting, actuarial and reinsurance from the perceptive of both the ceding company and the reinsurer.

EMMANUEL JACQUEMIN,

HEAD OF SOUTHERN EUROPE, BENELUX & EUROPE LATIN AMERICA

Prior to joining CCR Re in February 2021, Emmanuel Jacquemin worked for 19 years in reinsurance underwriting in several countries in Southern Europe and Latin America. Between 2014 and 2021, Emmanuel was based in Colombia and was underwriter in Latin America for a leading reinsurance company.

“I am pleased to bring to CCR Re my knowledge of the LATAM market, the relationships I have built and my underwriting experience to support its profitable growth in the region. I am convinced that CCR Re has the right strategy and the right people to be recognised as a partner of choice in the region.”

Emmanuel graduated in international trade from Toulouse Business School.

JOSÉ-LUIS CAMPOS,

SENIOR UNDERWRITER LATIN AMERICA

Prior to joining CCR Re in September 2021, José Luis Campos was Senior Treaty Underwriter (Non-Life) for Latin America for one of the region’s leading reinsurers. Between 2018 and 2021, José-Luis was based in Atlanta, USA.

“With my actuarial background and experience of Latin America, I would like to act as a link between CCR Re and clients, bringing a perspective of the local business environment while remaining focused on the technicals.”

With a degree in Actuarial Sciences from the University of the Americas in Puebla (Mexico), José-Luis has more than 17 years of experience in the insurance industry, providing experience in claims, underwriting, actuarial and reinsurance from the perceptive of both the ceding company and the reinsurer.

SPECIALTIES

LIFE & HEALTH

SPECIALTIES

YAMILET MOROTE,

CREDIT UNDERWRITER GUARANTOR AND POLITICAL RISK UNDERWRITER

In October 2020, Yamilet Morote joins CCR Re after starting in a Peruvian bank and having a career in financial institutions in France. Yamilet became a credit underwriter and guarantor in 2009 covering Latin America, Europe and Asia, working for 8 years at CESCE Credit Insurance in Madrid and 4 years at QBE Europe in Paris as a Senior Bond Underwriter.

“In my experience, there is so much to build in Latin America! That’s why I’m looking forward to supporting guarantees for building development programmes that will help the recovery in this emerging region.”

Yamilet graduated from ESKEMA Business School in 2002 with a Master’s degree in International Financial Management. She has been certified as a financial analyst by Moody’s in London since 2008.

LIFE & HEALTH

OLIVIER COLLIGNON,

VICE PRESIDENT LATIN AMERICA

Olivier Collignon joined CCR Re in mid-2019 as Vice President Latin America for the Life & Health business. With 20 years in actuarial and business development roles in the region, Oliver has a particularly strong understanding of the regional specificities of South America. He is also native to Argentina.

“The pandemic we are currently facing reminds me of how important the contribution of the insurance - and ultimately reinsurance - sector is. CCR Re’s swift adaptation has given me the opportunity to support my business partners and provide effective and innovative solutions. I would now like to look beyond that and work with our clients to mutually develop our businesses.”

Olivier is a certified member of the French Institute of Actuaries. He is the link between technical aspects and business development.

YAMILET MOROTE,

CREDIT UNDERWRITER GUARANTOR AND POLITICAL RISK UNDERWRITER

In October 2020, Yamilet Morote joins CCR Re after starting in a Peruvian bank and having a career in financial institutions in France. Yamilet became a credit underwriter and guarantor in 2009 covering Latin America, Europe and Asia, working for 8 years at CESCE Credit Insurance in Madrid and 4 years at QBE Europe in Paris as a Senior Bond Underwriter

“In my experience, there is so much to build in Latin America! That’s why I’m looking forward to supporting guarantees for building development programmes that will help the recovery in this emerging region.”

Yamilet graduated from ESKEMA Business School in 2002 with a Master’s degree in International Financial Management. She has been certified as a financial analyst by Moody’s in London since 2008.

OLIVIER COLLIGNON,

VICE-PRÉSIDENT AMÉRIQUE LATINE

Olivier Collignon joined CCR Re in mid-2019 as Vice President Latin America for the Life & Health business. With 20 years in actuarial and business development roles in the region, Oliver has a particularly strong understanding of the regional specificities of South America. He is also native to Argentina

“The pandemic we are currently facing reminds me of how important the contribution of the insurance - and ultimately reinsurance - sector is. CCR Re’s swift adaptation has given me the opportunity to support my business partners and provide effective and innovative solutions. I would now like to look beyond that and work with our clients to mutually develop our businesses.”

Olivier is a certified member of the French Institute of Actuaries. He is the link between technical aspects and business development.

“MULTIDISCIPLINARITY, EXPERIENCE AND MODERNITY CHARACTERISE CCR RE’S MEDICAL TEAM.”

SYLVIE CHANH,

Head of Legal, Claims & Services

FOCUS ON MEDICAL SELECTION EXPERTISE

How important is expertise in medical selection?

Medical selection plays an essential role in Life and Disability insurance in that it allows people presenting an “aggravated risk” to access an offer at a rate adapted to their health profile and to protect the mutual pool of policyholders.

For this, scientific expertise, combined with a detailed knowledge of insurance and reinsurance mechanisms, is essential. At CCR Re, the medical underwriting team includes 3 underwriters, which all have more than 20 years’ experience, and three doctors with varied and complementary profiles, who are on the ground (personal injury expert, practising GP, etc.).

What is the role of CCR Re’s medical team?

Its mission is to assist CCR Re’s clients in the day-today selection of medical risks in an environment where research and scientific progress are constantly evolving and where it is necessary to adapt to the range of care offered in the various international markets.

Because competition is strong in the field of providence insurance, and in specifically in loan insurance, insurers want to be able to respond quickly to their customers. This is why in 2021 CCR Re worked on the creation of a new secure and confidential communication platform, completely dematerialised and digitalised. This platform, which will be open to ceding companies in 2022, will not only provide them with online underwriting for the most common cases, but also allow them to file their most complex cases and communicate with the medical underwriting team.

CCR Re’s medical underwriting team

FRÉDÉRIQUE DURAN-ANDRÉ,

MEDICAL UNDERWRITER SINCE 1995

“I joined the CCR Group in 1995. After legal training and various positions in direct insurance, I got the opportunity to train as a medical underwriter. With the various doctors who have worked on the Medical Team, I gained a lot of experience over the years.

My job is to assess the medical risk that a policyholder might present. It is based on a thorough study of each case to reach a fair conclusion. I closely interact with doctors and underwriters on a daily basis. Given the diversity of markets in which CCR Re operates and the complexity of the cases submitted, one of the interesting aspects of my role is the variety of cases presented. As such, the knowledge required to handle cases properly must be constantly refreshed. Over the years, I have supported the Medical Team in its development to constantly promote innovation.”

JÉRÉMIE PENTEL,

CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER SINCE 2020

“As a Medical Doctor, I practised as a GP for about ten years within a medical and paramedical group, which allowed me to take care of patients in a holistic way.

I turned to personal injury expertise to have access to a global approach of a patient’s journey, from diagnosis to care, and until consolidation. This expert activity allowed me to discover the world of insurance and to collaborate with the medical teams of various insurance companies in the management of files, both for the medical selection at the time of underwriting and in the management of claims, making the most of my skills as an expert doctor and health care physician. Joining CCR Re as Chief Medical Officer has given me the opportunity to expand my international experience, with the challenge of adapting the business to different countries, with often different approaches to medicine and healthcare.”

FRÉDÉRIQUE DURAN-ANDRÉ,

MEDICAL UNDERWRITER SINCE 1995

“I joined the CCR Group in 1995. After legal training and various positions in direct insurance, I got the opportunity to train as a medical underwriter. With the various doctors who have worked on the Medical Team, I gained a lot of experience over the years.

My job is to assess the medical risk that a policyholder might present. It is based on a thorough study of each case to reach a fair conclusion. I closely interact with doctors and underwriters on a daily basis. Given the diversity of markets in which CCR Re operates and the complexity of the cases submitted, one of the interesting aspects of my role is the variety of cases presented. As such, the knowledge required to handle cases properly must be constantly refreshed. Over the years, I have supported the Medical Team in its development to constantly promote innovation.”

JÉRÉMIE PENTEL,

CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER SINCE 2020

“As a Medical Doctor, I practised as a GP for about ten years within a medical and paramedical group, which allowed me to take care of patients in a holistic way.

I turned to personal injury expertise to have access to a global approach of a patient’s journey, from diagnosis to care, and until consolidation. This expert activity allowed me to discover the world of insurance and to collaborate with the medical teams of various insurance companies in the management of files, both for the medical selection at the time of underwriting and in the management of claims, making the most of my skills as an expert doctor and health care physician. Joining CCR Re as Chief Medical Officer has given me the opportunity to expand my international experience, with the challenge of adapting the business to different countries, with often different approaches to medicine and healthcare.”

“CCR GROUP’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COMES WITH A MODERNISATION OF OUR WORKING METHODS AND AGILE CULTURE.”

HIND MECHBAL,

Chief Information Officer

THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION UNDER WAY

The digital transformation of the CCR Group is well and truly underway! A number of major projects were indeed completed in 2021, enabling us to:

- provide our underwriters, managers and business lines in general with powerful tools to facilitate their daily work and automate the tasks that can be automated;

- make the user experience more fluid, whether working in the office or from home;

- strengthen our technological fundamentals and modernise our working tools.

In terms of public reinsurance: CCR has offered its ceding companies the opportunity to use its APIs to retrieve detailed information on published natural disaster decrees in an automated fashion. We also continued to enhance and modernise the interactive map provided to our ceding companies on the ‘Pro Portal’, which enables them to visualise hazards and claims, and to invest in data processing automation to derive maximum value for the group and its clients.

The IT department also worked hand in hand with the public reinsurance modelling teams to modernise our server cluster in terms of hardware, operating system, software, development technologies and continuous integration.

In market reinsurance: the objective of upgrading our reinsurance ERP is currently one of the major areas of investment. In fact, we implemented the first major technological modernisation of our reinsurance system by introducing a seamless user experience for contract management, based on web technologies, and offering efficiency gains for our managers.

In addition, we continued to automate the retrieval and entry of accounting documents by integrating a major new broker into this automation, which has enabled us to reach more than 20% of automated processing in 2021. These gains were achieved through investments in text mining and artificial intelligence technologies. The percentage of automation will continue to increase in 2022. We are also making progress on the automated retrieval and entry of reinsurance treaties. This work based on NLP artificial intelligence is underway, and we expect to achieve major efficiency gains for our clients.

In the area of customer relationship management (CRM), we successfully met the challenge of providing our underwriters with a new, modern and efficient market tool, enabling them to better monitor the business relationship with our ceding companies and brokers. This project was implemented in a record time of six months, with a strong involvement of the business lines, the IT department and our partners.

On the regulatory and financial front, we successfully implemented the first phase of IFRS 17, and we are continuing to work actively with IT, the business lines and partners to move forward with the second phase of the project, which is scheduled for the end of 2022, with the aim of going live in early 2023.

“DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS A TOOL FOR DATA QUALITY.”

ISABELLE BION,

Chief Operations Officer

Working methods and working spaces: For this company digital transformation to take place, it is essential to support it with a transformation of working methods and a flexible culture. In 2021, and despite the health crisis, we stepped up employee training on the Agile and DevOps methods, flexibly reinforcing our management and collaboration methods, whether remotely or in person where possible, and relying on adapted collaboration tools. We also launched a project to modernise our development chain and continuous CI/CD integration of our reinsurance management software to shorten our IT lead times and to identify and test possible automations to achieve this. We worked with the Group’s Executive Committee members to prioritise IT requirements and initiatives based on the value they bring to the business, allowing for a flexible alignment of strategic business needs with IT execution.

We also took advantage of the rather peculiar context of this year, when our employees were often working from home, to redesign office workspaces, and transform them into modern, open spaces, with the creation of isolation, meeting and co-creation areas. This is to foster a new hybrid and collaborative way of working that promotes well-being at work while combining it with productivity and team spirit.

Last but not least, in the context of 2021, with cyber risk increasing dramatically, we continued our work to improve the security of the company’s information system and strengthen the means of protection. In addition, we continued to modernise the company’s various working tools, including time and attendance management tools, accounting management tools, cash flow management tools, dashboards and decision-making tools, etc. All these projects were carried out in 2021 in a hybrid and flexible working context, thanks to the strong commitment and collaboration of the business and IT teams.

How is the digital transformation taking place in the Operations Department?

‘Machine learning’ or ‘Artificial Intelligence’ are no longer just buzzwords but tools that are available to teams and used to increase their effectiveness and efficiency. This is especially the case for projects such as Accounting E-processing (automated processing of Non-Life proportional technical accounts) or Contract E-processing (assistance in entering contractual data from reinsurance treaties). The first batches of the Accounting E-processing project were delivered in May 2020. Since then, the scope of application was extended and now more than 20% of the proportional Non-Life technical accounts are processed in this way. This process reduces the time needed to process accounts. It also ensures consistent data processing quality.

What are your priorities?

In addition to these projects related to digital transformation, the teams also focused their efforts on data quality. The project to redesign our entire customer base is just one example among various achievements. These various projects carried out within the Operations Department, whether it be digital transformation or data quality, always have the same goals:

1. To provide a quality service by limiting the risk of errors in data processing;

2. To promote the fluidity (and flexibility) of operations while ensuring employee satisfaction.

The Digital Factory teams.

The auditorium.

Above and below, the Digital Factory teams. Below right, the auditorium.

“CCR RE IS EQUIPPED WITH THE BEST CATASTROPHE MODELS AND HAS A TEAM OF SPECIALISTS DEDICATED TO MODELLING AND ASSESSING THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH NATURAL DISASTERS.”

JÉRÔME ISENBART,

Chief Risk Officer and Chief Actuary

THE NAT CAT MODELLING CHAIN

The risk of natural catastrophes is a major risk for a reinsurance company like CCR Re. Successfully assessing the uncertainty associated with the occurrence and impact of natural disasters is crucial to defining our risk appetite and implementing our ambitious and controlled underwriting strategy.

ASSESSING POTENTIAL NAT CAT LOSSES

CCR Re’s process of assessing potential Nat Cat losses starts with the individual risk of each case and then aggregates all the individual risks to give both a comprehensive and detailed representation of the company’s risk.

CCR Re has equipped itself with the best catastrophe models and has a dedicated team of specialists to model and assess natural catastrophe risk. The team also analyses the impact of climate change on our portfolios.

All of CCR Re’s property and casualty business that involves Nat Cat risk (storms, floods, earthquakes, hail) is modelled to determine the distribution of potential Nat Cat losses and to measure the business’ individual risk. The outcomes of the Cat models are coupled with historical losses to produce the most accurate assessment of risk. Loss distributions are used to underwrite business and ensure that the premium is adequate at the time of underwriting.

Membres de l’équipe de modélisateurs de la Cellule Cat.

From the company’s point of view, the overall distribution of potential Nat Cat losses is obtained by aggregating the individual risks whilst considering the effects of geographical diversification.

This global distribution is broken down into detailed and relevant indicators to monitor and manage Cat risk, to assess Nat Cat accumulations, to structure the P&C retrocession programme and to assess expected losses in the event of a major natural disaster.

CALCULATION AND MONITORING OF NAT CAT ACCUMULATIONS

CCR Re measures its accumulations for each section of property and casualty cover it underwrites, taking into account exposed contractual limits and potential losses. Individual accumulations are aggregated by country-peril and monitored in real time to control and optimise our underwriting appetite.

In 2022, we will continue to improve our control of natural catastrophe risk by implementing a thorough management of our natural catastrophe exposures through the collection and exploitation of the insured values we cover, which will allow us to strengthen the control of our accumulations.

“THE VALUE CHAIN CREATED MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND THE CAT COMPONENT IN PRICING IN EACH UNDERWRITTEN CASE AND TO ASSESS IN REAL TIME THE SHAPE OF THE ENTITY’S GROSS AND NET CAT PROFILE.”