New SCOR CEO 'poised' to transform group as he raises 2022 growth targets

Global tier 1 reinsurer  SCOR has raised its 2022 growth targets as its chief executive sees "very attractive long-term growth opportunities" in the business emerging from the fast-changing risk environment.

Laurent Rousseau believes that the current environment represents an opportunity for the group to adapt and embark on its next chapter. SCOR plans to leverage its strengths, which Rousseau outlined as a robust capital shield, a strong franchise, a high diversification, and a controlled risk appetite, to accelerate its transformation and sustainability journey.

As part of this strategy, SCOR plans to rebalance its exposure towards property/casualty (P&C) business to seize the opportunities created by the hardening market and attractive pricing conditions, with an increased focus on non-natural catastrophe lines of business. By doing so, it intends to extract value from underlying risk pools and offer a differentiated value proposition to its stakeholders.

In 2022, SCOR Global P&C expects to deliver stronger growth than projected in its “Quantum Leap” plan. Its revised assumptions for 2022 are: an estimated gross written premium growth between 15 to 18 percent, with a net combined ratio trending towards 95 percent and below. SCOR will adopt a forward-looking approach to estimate its nat cat budget, increasing its budget from 7 percent to 8 percent reflecting the influence of climate change and rising trends of mid-sized catastrophic events.

In its life reinsurance business, SCOR has revised the assumption for the 2022 net technical margin (excluding potential Covid-19 impacts) upwards by 100 bps to 8.2 percent ˗ 8.4 percent, while the GWP growth for 2022 is revised downwards from +3-6 percent to +~1 percent.

In its investment portfolio, the reinsurer intends to reduce its excess liquidity from 16 percent to 9 percent by year-end and actively continues diversification into accretive value-creation assets. The group expects a return on invested assets of 1.8 percent ˗ 2.3 percent for 2022.

Furthermore, the group targets to create a sustainable growth agenda building on three key themes: culture & people, business leadership, and financial performance.

Commenting on the move, Rousseau said: “ SCOR’s franchise has never been stronger, the Group is poised to reap the benefits of its leadership position and seize the attractive long-term growth opportunities emerging from the fast-changing risk environment. The Group Executive Committee is focused on delivery and operational improvement to create sustainable, franchise-strengthening value for our shareholders.

"In the next strategic plan, to be unveiled in March 2022, we will focus on Culture & People, Business Leadership, and Financial Performance to transform the Group and build a differentiated value proposition for all stakeholders.”

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