French reinsurer CCR insured losses double to €2bn in 2017

French reinsurer CCR Group has doubled the cost of insured losses to €2.04 billion in 2017 compared to €1.10 billion in 2016.

CCR Group posted a consolidated income before tax of €228 million in 2017 after €295 million in 2016. Net consolidated income for 2017 amounts to €45 million due to an exceptional tax expense. Gross written premiums shrank to €1.29 billion in 2017 from €1.32 billion in 2016.

“In a year that put the global reinsurance industry to the test, the CCR Group demonstrated the solidity and the pertinence of its business model, serving in particular the people and the territories of France highly exposed to natural risks,” said group chairman Pierre Blayau.

CCR is a public-sector reinsurer that provides cedants operating in France with coverage against natural catastrophes and uninsurable risks. At the same time, CCR includes a full-service reinsurer operating on the French and international markets in the life, non-life and specialty lines of business operating under the CCR Re brand.

The public reinsurance mechanism incurred total losses of nearly €2.2 billion in 2017. These were amortized to a great extent by liquidation surpluses relating to prior years and to a greater extent by the transfer of €1.1 billion euros from the equalization reserve booked to this effect. Taking into account the underwriting results from terrorism risk and specialty lines reinsurance as well as the financial income generated by the investment portfolio, income before tax for all public reinsurance activities amounted to €204 million euros compared to €275 million in 2016.

The public reinsurance balance sheet would be capable, at present, of covering a natural disaster market loss of €4.5 billion without resorting to the use of the state guarantee, the firm noted.

The 2017 financial year was marked by exceptional loss experience with, in particular, severe drought on mainland France, and above all Hurricane Irma, the costliest event since inception of the Natural Disaster scheme.

The open market arm CCR Re completed its first financial year with €396 million in premium income, an improved loss ratio of 73 percent and a solvency ratio of 190 percent, the company said. The was relatively unaffected by the natural disasters and the consequences of the new Ogden regulation in the UK, in particular, according to the company.

CCR RE was created in 2016 in order to segregate CCR’s open-market reinsurance portfolio from its French State-backed reinsurance operations.

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