AMRAE Q&A with Bruno Laval XL Catlin

What are the biggest current risks for businesses based in France?

Subjects that are always high on the agenda when speaking to risk managers and their brokers are business interruption, cyber, nat cats and topics such as the risks associated with political instability and crisis management. All of these will be discussed at AMRAE this year.

The theme of this year’s AMRAE Rencontres is digital transformation. What are the key threats and opportunities risk professionals need to manage around this? What can XL Catlin do to help them?

The world we live in is changing very fast. The challenge for our industry is to keep up with digital transformation and the innovations that stem from it, as they are - and will be - impacting our clients’ risk profiles. At XL Catlin, we refuse to see progress and innovation as a threat and rather choose to embrace them. To me, it’s a no brainer. We are working with incubators and professionals - both inside and outside the industry - to drive innovation and to help facilitate business transformations and make new concepts a reality.

Besides innovation, what are you going to be discussing with risk managers at AMRAE this year?

Our main focus is global programmes. They represent half of our premiums in France and have largely contributed to our growth last year. Our insurance operations in France achieved 17% growth across business lines in 2016. More importantly, our ambition is to become the go-to player for French companies with international exposures. We have both the expertise and the network to support those corporations that are either exporting or developing their operations outside of France.

 The AMRAE conference takes place in Deauville 1-3 February