French insurers seek to tackle cyber awareness among smaller firms

The French insurance association – France Assureurs – is stepping up its awareness campaign among smaller businesses about the scale of the cyber threat and the need to invest in loss prevention and risk transfer. This follows latest analysis showing that the coverage rate for very small enterprises (VSEs) and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is no greater than 0.2% in France. The association says that at a time of crisis and financial and economic strain, the focus on risk management, loss prevention and risk transfer is more important than ever at both an individual and industrial level. In its recently published review of 2022, France Assureurs says that professionals and companies face many new risks. “Beyond the climatic and inflationary crises, professionals and businesses are faced with new risks. There has been a sharp increase in claims, in particular due to hail and an increasingly high exposure to cyber risk,” it said. “Although cyber insurance continues to develop, prevention remains a priority, in particular for VSEs and SMEs, whose coverage rate does not exceed 0.2%. This is behind the initiatives launched by the profession, for example the partnership with the National Gendarmerie and agéa, so that general insurance agents raise awareness of cyber risk in companies in all territories,” continued the association. France Assureurs said that in 2022, non-life claims rose twice as much as contributions, “significantly degrading its technical balance”. The association said that inflation remains a big challenge for the French non-life insurance market, as commodity price inflation has spread to the cost of repair. This threat needs to be tackled at the highest level, not least in the area of replacement or repair. In motor insurance the increase in the average annual cost of material claims increased in 2022 by 8.5% due to the cost of repairs, driven by inflation in the price of raw materials and energy. In home insurance the average annual cost of claims increased in 2022 by 6.4%. “In this context, insurers want strong measures to be implemented to defend the purchasing power of the French people, by encouraging the development of the circular economy to promote the use of recycled parts, by accelerating the liberalisation of spare parts and finally by prohibiting gifts from certain repairers of a disproportionate value compared to the amount of the repair,” said the association. In 2022 the national insurance price index increased by 1.6% while consumer price inflation increased by 5.2%. Florence Lustman, president of France Assureurs, said that the French insurance sector remains able to rise to these challenges. “Despite the succession of health, geopolitical, economic and climatic crises, the solidity of insurers allows them to provide solutions that make society more resilient. The solvency of the market represents 2.5 times the regulatory requirement and demonstrates the solidity of insurers and their resilience in the face of a succession of crises,” she said.

French insurers seek to tackle cyber awareness among smaller firms

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