Latest France Headlines

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

AXA Earnings: Net Income up 11% to $8.55 Billion; Conference Call Today

Feb 28 2008 // France’s AXA Group reported strong results for 2007. The earnings release cited the growth in underlying earnings up 27 percent to €4.963 billion [$7.5 billion] (up 15 percent on a comparable basis). Adjusted...

Towers Perrin Launches French Reinsurance Office

Jan 31 2008 // International professional services firm Towers Perrin announced that it is expanding its reinsurance intermediary business to serve the French domestic market. It has appointed Serge Mussard as Managing Director of its...

Risk Management Solutions Comments on French Windstorm Securitization

Jan 14 2008 // Risk Management Solutions gave details of the recent analysis it conducted for a securitization of windstorm risk in France. The securities were issued through Green Valley Ltd., a special purpose vehicle (SPV), and...

Allstate Pays N.Y. Homeowners $995K for Plane Vibration Damage

Jan 9 2008 // Allstate Insurance Co. has agreed to pay $995,000 to a Brooklyn couple who claimed their house was badly damaged by vibrations caused by an Air France Concorde jet nearly five years ago. The couple, John and Annette...

Swiss Re Places $294 Million French Windstorm Bonds

Jan 8 2008 // Swiss Re announced that it has successfully structured and placed €200 million ($294 million) of securities covering windstorm events in France. The deal forms part of a three-year reinsurance agreement between Swiss Re...

Lloyd’s Comments on Rugby World Cup Insurance Coverage

Sep 20 2007 // Even though the U.S. has a team – The Eagles – in the finals of the Rugby World Cup, the event doesn’t exactly get the same press coverage as the Super Bowl or the World Series. Nonetheless for the 20...

R&M Releases French ‘Snapshot’

Sep 7 2007 // Research and Markets has added “Snapshots France Insurance 2007” to their offering in its Snapdata series. It provides “2005 year-end market size data, with 2006 estimates, 4 years of historical data and...

Ill. Abbott Drops Lawsuit Against French AIDS Activist Group

Jul 25 2007 // Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories Inc. dropped a lawsuit against a French AIDS group on Monday over an alleged cyber-attack against the company’s Web site. The pharmaceutical and medical products maker filed the lawsuit...

SunGard Acquires GTI Consultants

Jul 9 2007 // SunGard (http://www.sungard.com) announced that it has acquired GTI Consultants (GTI), a specialist consultancy firm providing IT services to French financial institutions. GTI will become part of SunGard’s Cadextan...

Guy Carp Publishes Global Terror Insurance Market Study

Jun 12 2007 // Guy Carpenter & Company, the global risk and reinsurance specialist of the Marsh & McLennan Companies, has published a new study on the “Global Terror Insurance Market.” It contains information from...

S&P Rates Paris Re, Subs; Lowers CGRM Ratings to ‘A-‘

Jun 11 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘A-‘ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to PARIS RE (France) and PARIS RE Switzerland Ltd. At the same time,...

Study: Financial Executives Expect Business Risks to Persist, Intensify

May 18 2007 // Financial executives at the world’s largest companies expect the severity of their most prevalent business risks to remain constant or intensify through 2009, according to the “Managing Business Risk Through...

French Insurance Giant AXA’s 2006 Profit Rises 18%

Feb 23 2007 // French insurance giant AXA SA said Thursday that improving sales in its life insurance and asset management businesses helped lift 2006 profit 18 percent. Beating analysts’ predictions, AXA’s net income rose to...

AXA Posts Earnings Gains in all Sectors

Feb 5 2007 // France’s AXA Group joined the growing parade of big insurance companies who had a banner year in 2006. The financial services and insurance giant posted gains in all of its principal activities. Life & Savings...

AIR Estimates Europe Storm Insured Losses at $5 to $10 Billion

Jan 22 2007 // Catastrophe risk modeler AIR Worldwide has issued a bulletin estimating insured losses from Winter Storm Kyrill (or Cyril) at between €4 billion and €8 billion ($5.18 billion and $10.37 billion). The GDV German...

Best Affirms AGF’s ‘A+’ Ratings

Jan 3 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of “A+” (Superior) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “aa-” of France’s AGF Group and the ICR of “a-” of the...

Commentary: In an Electoral Defeat – Echoes of the ‘Great War’

Nov 10 2006 // As the Republican Neo-Con Light Brigade charged into the Democratic Valley of Death on Tuesday Nov. 7th, echoes of another far off war could be heard. It will be 88 years on Saturday that the guns finally fell silent,...

Best Affirms Groupama Ratings

Nov 10 2006 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of “A” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a” of France’s Groupama S.A. Best also affirmed the FSR of...

AXA Records Strong 9-Month Growth

Nov 9 2006 // France’s AXA Group reported gains in all sectors for the first nine months of 2006, with life and savings entities leading the way. New business volume in the sector rose 14 percent to €4.473 billion ($5.72...

French Court Dismisses Suit by 1992 Airbus Crash Victims’ Families

Oct 10 2006 // A court in eastern France last week threw out a lawsuit by families of victims of a 1992 plane crash that accused the government of dragging out prosecution of the case. After a 14-year investigation, defense aviation...