With around EUR1.5 trillion in funds under management, French life insurance is a large and mature market. However structural issues including poor profitability, risk of lapses, and market conditions suggest the potential demise of the traditional life product in its current form.
All is not lost, though. In the short term, insurance companies should consider pulling a number of levers to enhance the value of their business. Longer term, the inevitable cut in pay-as-you-go pensions could lead to the emergence of a proper private pension market in France.
This report, cowritten with Exane BNP Paribas, discusses actions that insurers could take now to improve current profitability and to seize future growth opportunities. This report is available in French and English.
