French life insurance outlook remains negative, says Moody’s

Rating agency Moody’s has said its outlook for French life insurers remains negative, due to several issues that the industry is facing.

These included continued pressures on life insurers' profitability and the challenges in safeguarding solvency whilst preserving their products' attractiveness in the context of elevated asset risk, according to the agency.

Moody's believes that 2012 will be a difficult year for French life insurance, due to what it sees as being an elevated level of competition between insurers and banks, and a continued decrease in credited returns, which reduces the attractiveness of insurance products.