Coface appoints Natixis CEO as chairman of the board

Credit insurer Coface has elected François Riahi, chief executive officer of Natixis, as the chairman of its board of directors.

Riahi succeeds Laurent Mignon who is leaving Coface board to focus on his new responsibilities within French banking group Groupe BPCE.

Riahi began his career as an Inspecteur des Finances (auditor at the French Treasury) at the Inspection Générale des Finances from 2001 to 2005. He was then appointed to the government's budget department, first as a chargé de mission reporting to the budget director and subsequently as head of the budget policy office. In 2007, he was appointed as an advisor to the president of the French Republic, responsible for the reform of State institutions and Public Finance. In March 2009, Riahi joined Groupe BPCE as deputy CEO and chief strategy officer. In May 2012, he was appointed head of corporate & investment banking's Asia Pacific platform for Natixis, based in Hong Kong and became member of the Natixis Executive Committee. In February 2016, he joined Natixis' senior management committee as co-head of corporate and investment banking.

On 1st January 2018, Riahi became a member of the Groupe BPCE Management Board, in charge of finance, strategy and corporate secretariat. Since 1st June 2018, he has been CEO of Natixis.

Mignon commented: "I would like to thank the Coface directors for their confidence. I am optimistic about Coface's future, it is a company with strong competitive positions, a clear strategic vision, an affirmed purpose and whose financial results are beginning to reflect the successes of the Fit to Win plan. François Riahi will be able to drive the Group's future development ambitions, notably by relying on Xavier Durand's general management."

Riahi said: "I am very honoured by the confidence placed in me today by the Board of Directors. Together with Xavier Durand and the teams across Coface, we will continue to execute the Fit to Win strategic plan."

Make sure you are GDPR compliant and  confirm your email address to keep getting our daily emails

More of today's news

LCCG to acquire UK insurer Equitable Life

AM Best upgrades PartnerRe on strong balance sheet

JLT expands M&A insurance practice with Allied World hire

Ardonagh Group hires former Lloyd's CEO Ward

Mapfre unit placed under review with negative implications after acquisition

Don't miss our insurtech email newsletter - sign up today