Latest France Headlines

All the headlines from our France Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Non-adversarial Adjusters Advising Claimants Are Practicing Law, Court Rules

Jun 6 2002 // The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that an insurance claims adjuster who develops a non-adversarial relationship with a person filing a claim and advises that person on settling the claim is practicing law.An adjuster...

S&P Negative on Future of French P/C Insurance Market

Apr 22 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it has a divided outlook for the French insurance market, “taking a negative view of its non-life sector and heralding a stable future for the country’s life...

French Insurer’s Net Profit Drops by Half in 2001

Mar 5 2002 // According to a report by the Associated Press, French insurer Axa SA’s net profit will decrease to 1.2 billion euros (about $1 billion), more than half in 2001, as quoted by Chairman Henri de Castries in the French...

Concorde Crash Report Confirms Lost Part as Proximate Cause

Jan 18 2002 // The Bureau Enquêtes Accident (BEA), the investigation agency charged with examining the crash of the Air France supersonic Concorde near Paris in July 2000, has released its final report. It confirms that the plane...

CGNU Nears Deal w/ Groupama on French Commercial Lines

Jan 7 2002 // As earlier reported (see IJ Website Dec. 27), CGNU is close to concluding a deal to sell its French commercial lines business, CGU Courtage, to French mutual insurer Groupama. The transaction highlights the restructuring...

Sales and Acquisitions in French Insurance Market

Dec 27 2001 // A flurry of year end transactions is changing the face of the French insurance market. The MMA-MAAF Group has reportedly agreed to acquire the French units of Swiss based Winterthur Group. CGU Courtage, the commercial...

The World’s New Respect for the U.S.

Dec 24 2001 // Remarkably few events are timed precisely enough to shift the focus of an entire nation. In the last century only three come immediately to mind—August 1914, October 1929 and December 1941. While change is the only true...

The World’s New Respect for the U.S.

Dec 17 2001 // Remarkably few events are timed precisely enough to shift the focus of an entire nation. In the last century only three come immediately to mind—August 1914, October 1929 and December 1941. While change is the only true...

Concorde Flies Again

Nov 8 2001 // 15 Months after a fiery crash in a Paris suburb brought its flights to an abrupt halt, Concorde, the world’s only supersonic commercial aircraft, took to the skies again on two celebrity flights from London’s...

CGNU Seeks to Sell French Commercial Lines Unit

Oct 10 2001 // In a move to further streamline its European operations, the U.K.’s CGNU announced that is seeking a buyer for its French unit, CGU Courtage, the country’s third largest commercial lines insurer, which deals...

U.S.- EU To Help Airlines Cover War, Terrorist Risks

Sep 24 2001 // The governments of the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union rode to the rescue of the airline industry over the weekend when they announced separate decisions to help carriers cope with increases in premiums covering war...

AXA, Allianz Raise U.S. Attack Loss Estimates, New Disaster in France

Sep 24 2001 // Both France’s AXA Group and Germany’s Allianz AG, the world’s two largest insurance groups, raised their original estimates of potential losses from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 in the U.S. (See IJ...

CGNU in Partnership Talks with France’s MMA

Jul 9 2001 // CGNU, Britain’s largest insurer, is in talks with the French group Mutuelles du Mans Assurances aimed at establishing a partnership arrangement which would strengthen its position in the French life and pension...

AXA’s Bébéar, de Castries Under Formal Investigation in French Tax Probe

Jul 9 2001 // On June 12, French police detained and questioned AXA’s Management Board Chairman Henri de Castries and his predecessor, the company’s founder Claude Bébéar, who now presides over its Supervisory Board, about...

AXA’s Bébéar, de Castries Under Formal Investigation in French Tax Probe

Jun 25 2001 // On June 12, French police detained and questioned AXA’s Management Board Chairman Henri de Castries and his predecessor, the company’s founder Claude Bébéar, who now presides over its Supervisory Board, about...

New Lawsuit Against Crédit Lyonnais – French Gov’t. Responds

Jun 21 2001 // California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s lawsuit against Crédit Lyonnais (CL) and a number of other defendants, filed Tuesday in San Francisco, is the latest legal action involving the French bank and its...

AXA Founder, Chairman Released on Bail – Tax Probe Continues

Jun 15 2001 // Claude Bébéar, AXA’s founder and head of its advisory board, and its current CEO, Henri de Castries, were freed yesterday after each posted a 2 million franc ($258,000) bond. The two business leaders...

Lloyd’s Admits Non-U.K. Based Brokers For the First Time

Apr 30 2001 // Of the six new brokers admitted to Lloyd’s select fraternity five are based outside of the U.K., marking the first time that the venerable institution has given foreign brokers direct access to the Lloyd’s...

PartnerRe Changes Name of French Unit

Mar 30 2001 // Bermuda-based PartnerRe announced that “it will change the name of its Paris organization from SAFR PartnerRe to PartnerRe SA,” effective April 1. The French operation thus joins the rest of the Group operating...

France Begins to Count the Cost As Floods Ease

Mar 27 2001 // As the latest in a series of floods, which have ravaged France this winter, showed some signs of receding, insurers began counting the potential losses. Last October’s floods in Europe cost insurers an estimated $1.2...