French insurer and reinsurer SCOR reported growth in its longevity business during 2016 driven by a strong fourth-quarter for the segment, with the company highlighting growth potential with life business in the UK and elsewhere.
The majority of insurance and reinsurance companies have now reported their results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2016, including global re/insurance firm SCOR. During its 2016 earnings call held in February, the France-domiciled re/insurer revealed that it managed to grow its longevity reinsurance business in the year, driven by a solid final quarter of the year.
“The growth in 2016 has been very well diversified in terms of both geographical spread and product lines, with longevity driving the lion’s share of growth in Q4, standalone. Obviously, longevity was up significantly. We ended the year at €700 million. On a constant exchange rate that was adding about €200 million with the strong Q4. So we finished the year very, very happy with the trends we’re seeing.
“I think we’re going into 2017 with a strong level of comfort. We keep deploying resources in Asia-Pacific, the market is being very buoyant in the region for life protection business. We still see a good trend on the longevity market, particularly in the UK and I think we will keep benefitting by the diversifying footprint that we have on smaller markets, like in 2016,” said Paolo De Martin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SCOR Global Life SE.
According to the firm’s full-year 2016 and Q4 earnings presentation, available on its website, its longevity segment recorded gross written premiums (GWP) of €689 million, of which De Martin noted €200 million came from the fourth-quarter. In 2015 SCOR recorded longevity GWP of €558 million, and this drops further in 2014 to €246 million.
The re/insurer states that in 2016 its longevity reinsurance business accounted for roughly 8% of its total GWP, which totalled €8.2 billion for the full-year.
Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of SCOR SE, Denis Kessler, also commented on the growth the firm has witnessed with its longevity book.
“On the life side, we confirmed a strong and growing position in the longevity reinsurance sector, and in-line with what we said, we are expanding the franchise in Asia-Pacific,” said Kessler.
