Appointments – November 2022

Who are the most recent appointments as directors and C-levels in Belux? 

Karel Tanghe

Karel Tanghe, has been appointed new Chief Financial Officer of AG. He will replace Wim Guilliams.

Subject to approval by the National Bank of Belgium, he will take office on 1 January 2023, succeeding to Wim Guilliams who will be evolving as Ageas Group’s CFO as of 1 June 2023.

Karel Tanghe has a thorough knowledge of the insurance, financial institutions, health insurance and pension fund sector, both at local and international level. He holds a master’s degree in Economics, Leadership and an MBA from Vlerick Business School.

Karel worked over twenty years at KPMG and occupied diverse positions such as Head of Audit, Managing Director and member of the management team since 2016.

As for Wim Guilliams, he has been working at AG since 2015 and has managed AG’s finances for 7 years with passion and expertise, including the implementation of the revised IFRS 17 accounting standard.

 

Fichier:ERGO Kindlustusgrupi logo.svg — Wikipédia

Dieter Bardyn - Chief Risk Officer - ERGO INSURANCE (Belgium) | LinkedIn

Dieter Bardyn

After more than 7 years as Manager Financial and Insurance Risk Management at NN Belgium, Dieter Bardyn has just been appointed new Chief Risk Officer of Ergo. 

 

 

 

 

DKV formulaire en ligne – CDSCA – OCASC

Ruth Verstraete

Ruth Verstraete

Dennis van Giezen - Risk Manager - DKV Belgium | LinkedIn

Dennis van Giezen

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a long career of 19 years at DKV Belgium, Ruth Verstraete has been appointed CEO of DKV. Dennis Van Giezen is replacing her as Chief Risk Officer of the company.

 

 

 

 

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Cyber insurance : why does it scare away insurers?

Is cyber risk one of the greatest enemies of insurers? In any case, this is the conclusion drawn by the World Economic Forum of Davos and by France Assureurs, a professional representative organisation for insurance companies in France, and this is not unfounded: in 2021, about 1 000 Belgian companies and one French company out of two have already been victims of cyber attacks. Despite this observation, the situation on the market may become even more severe: from a car insurance perspective, the self-driving car and the connected car can both have a serious impact on the latter, and, in a more futuristic and global approach, the scope of the metaverse too.

Cyber insurance : how far have we come?

While the cyber insurance market was established in the 2000s across the Atlantic, on the European market and more specifically in France and in Belgium, this market is struggling to get its bearings.

In Belgium and in France, the availability of this type contract for professionals has been around for five years. The few current clients are mostly among the leading multinationals and, to a lesser extent, among small- and medium-sized companies, as well as some target independent companies. From the insurers’ side, few of them offer a cyber insurance cover. Additionally, Wallonia offers fewer such contracts than elsewhere in Belgium. On these markets, the cyber risk cover comes in two forms: the cover is either embedded in a civil liability insurance or legal protection, or it stands in a unique insurance policy.

On the French professional indemnity market, a total of 185 million euros for cyber premiums has been paid in 2021 (Source: AMRAE). However, we learn from AMRAE’s Lucy 2022 report that cyber insurance contracts do not meet the larger companies’ expectations, in particular due to the high insurance coverages. Therefore, even if this market is driven by the few large companies that are currently clients, those that are not yet clients would rather insure themselves alone or in groups of mutual insurance companies, as we will discuss below.

 

“Cyber insurance contracts do not meet the larger companies’ expectations, in particular due to the high insurance coverages.”

 

 

As far as the specific features of cyber insurance policies are concerned, various clauses may be included. An opt-out clause for losses arising from an attack that results in a disaster effect for the targeted state should be mentioned. If the contract does not have an exclusion clause for such conflicts, clauses excluding losses from war are also mentioned. Nevertheless, as pointed out by the Direction du Trésor, the implementation and efficiency of such clauses are not necessarily clear. This is the case when the term ‘cyber war’ is not clearly defined in law. The policyholder’s claim cannot be clearly defined also if the origin of the attack cannot be determined.

Threats of a cyber attack

The forms of cyber attacks are more and more diversified. Among them, we can find malwares and ransomwares, as well as identity theft. Furthermore, for a greater impact on the company’s image or finances, identity theft is the attackers’ best weapon.

Cyber attacks’ threats are numerous and cause substantial damage to a company: costs related to the immediate consequences of the incident, whether it be the management of the incident or the financial losses of the company, property damage and the company’s civil liability. In addition, business interruption and operational loss are the main risks. As a result, cyber risk is considered an operational risk by many insurers.

Another worrying threat for companies and consequently for insurers is the payment of a ransom of up to 500.000€. However, in France, the issue of ransom payment is currently being discussed, particularly because an insurance policy that includes a clause in favour of ransom payment is seen as encouraging cybercriminals to commit such acts. The French Ministry of the Economy recently published a report clarifying the right of policyholders to ask the insurer to pay the ransom, but this is not an obligation on the insurer. In light of this situation, it is advisable as an insurer to support its policyholders as much as possible in the event of a cyber attack, without paying the cyber ransom.

Why is this market developing slowly?

Whether in Belgium or in France, insurers are mistrustful because there is very little statistical data on the cyber risk and its rapid evolution does not allow for an obvious adaptation, especially in an environment that is still very unfamiliar and difficult to control.

Assessing financial risk is a barrier for insurers, particularly because of the lack of data. In France, one of the reasons for the poor development of this market is due to the balance between the value of premiums and the value of calculated damage: in 2020, indeed, French insurance companies collected 217 million euros in damage and 126 million euros in premiums (source: AMRAE), which causes a shortfall for them. The cost of damage for a victim company is particularly difficult to quantify for two reasons. The first one is the interdependence of our society’s information systems, which is at the origin of accumulation phenomena, as Olivier Lopez, Director of the Institute of Statistics at the University of Paris, explains in this interview. The second is the black number, i.e. the gap between known and actual acts of cyber attack which stems from the victims’ fear of the consequences for their reputation.

It is also very difficult to predict the damage of this type of attack, mainly because an attack can have several targets: even if it remains unusual, it can happen in an attack against several states. Moreover, despite the infrequency of this particular case, this possible attack aimed at different targets simultaneously is frightening for insurers. As a result, and due to the increasing number of attacks, insurance premiums are high, whereas the offer is already not very developed. As a result, the cyber insurance market cannot evolve. In addition, insurance companies are cautious in their choice of customer profiles because they are concerned about their solvency, because of a lack of knowledge about cyber insurance products, and an underestimation of the importance of cyber-attacks, especially for SMEs.

 

“The legal framework of cyber insurance contracts is not clear enough whether for insurers or policyholders.”

 

 

The market’s own structure prevents its correct development as well. The legal framework of cyber insurance contracts is not clear enough whether for insurers or policyholders, given that implicit guarantees and ‘silent’ covers exist. The latter means that cyber risks are covered by property insurance contracts, but of which policyholders and insurance companies are not aware. From the policyholder’s point of view, this cover can be beneficial as it is included in this type of policy. However, as they are not informed of its coverage, they do not activate it and the cover is not considered in the calculation of the premium. For insurance companies, this practice is dangerous, especially as the latter may be confronted with an unforeseen risk if he does not include the real consequence of the risk in the calculation of the premium. As a result, the coverage of insurance contracts is not always clear to the policyholder, so fewer policies are taken out. Moreover, the imprecision of the “silent” cover can negatively impact the solvency of the insurer. In this respect, following the publication of EIOPA, the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) strongly encourages insurers to “examine all the guarantees given in their contracts with regard to cyber risks and, where appropriate, to clarify and make more explicit the wording of the terms and conditions of policies with regard to the coverage or exclusion of these risks, to provide an ambiguity-free offer to policyholders”.

As mentioned above, the ransom impacts the market’s development, because some contracts cover the ransom, while others do not. This insurance cover can have an undesirable effect: the rise of cyber attacks. However, the insurers’ federation Assuralia states that this guarantee is an advantage for policyholders and should not cause them any fear: by being covered against ransom, insured companies benefit from the help of experts who can decrypt these ransom demands and can enlighten the customer about them.

Lastly, whether or not insurance companies, that are victims of a cyber attack, are covered against administrative sanctions, for example in the event of failure to notify a data breach, is a matter of concern for companies that might wish to take out such policies. In that specific case, it may be covered by the insurer, as opposed to the criminal fine. In addition, some insurance contracts may include compensation concerning costs related to the implementation of a crisis communication plan by the victim company.

Step by step, the efforts continue…

Despite the current geopolitical situation, measures in the insurance market are being taken to develop even more cyber insurance policies. In France, the Ministry of Economy proposes to set up a working group to define what constitutes cyber war in order to establish possible legal exclusions to contracts. Moreover, the ACPR and France Assureurs will study the market’s main clauses to improve the level of information of policyholders. They have the ambition to create a cyber attack observatory to solve the data shortage. In Belgium, Assuralia believes that a collaboration between the private sector and insurers could foster the development of this market, with the help of the Center of Cyber Security whose main missions are to raise public awareness and help victims.

At the European level, EIOPA believes that the creation of a European cyber attack reporting database based on a common taxonomy can enable the insurance industry to improve its assessments and data collection so that these types of risks can be properly measured, monitored and managed.

In any case, if insurers do not keep up, some companies (Airbus, Veolia and Adeao) have foreseen a future disaster by creating a mutual insurance company on the Belgian territory, Miris Insurance, to cover the risk of cyber attacks. It is still awaiting approval from the Belgian regulator, but it should be operational before January 1st 2023.

This statement by large groups highlights the management of cyber insurance by insurers. It is clear that it is essential that insurance companies take up this challenge more clearly because they run the risk that other stakeholders, such as Miris, will become essential in this market. Finally, mutual insurance companies like Miris could develop and offer competitive and possibly more attractive insurance products.

The issue of cyber insurance is therefore a key issue to be addressed by insurance companies, as this would put the latter at a disadvantage in the insurance market.

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Keeping Up With The Market – October 2022

Every month we help you keep up with the Belgian insurance market.

Acquisitions

 

AG Insurance and Ethias, together with EthiasCo and Société Fédérale de Participations et Investissement (SFPI), will buy out 4,6% of Fluxys’ shares in the Canadian group CDPQ, after approval of Publigaz and EIP, other shareholders.

The buyout aims at achieving two objectives:

  • Supporting Fluxys’ strategy to develop its hydrogen and CO2 transmission infrastructure from 2025 onwards. This will contribute to developing the transition to renewable energy sources and a carbon-neutral society by 2050.
  • Strengthening the Belgian anchoring of a crucial infrastructure for the country.

 

Home | Athora

Earlier this month, Athora Belgium finalised the acquisition of a life insurance closed-book portfolio from NN Insurance Belgium. The portfolio includes 200.000 contracts.

Athora counts more than 3 million clients, has 96 billion in pro forma consolidated assets under management, and over 2 000 employees. The life insurance company operates in 5 European countries and is known for its transactional findings.

 

 

Partnerships

       

Axa Belgium and GoodPlanet Belgium join forces to develop hundreds of climate workshops for 2nd and 3rd cycle secondary students in Brussels, Liège and Antwerp. The objective is to raise awareness of young people so that they become aware of possible individual and collective solutions.

The two partners did their first ‘Climate School Workshop’ on 14th October.

 

  

Ethias and Belfius Insurance join together with Eiffage Luxembourg, a construction group, to create a common land investment platform called LIVe.

LIVe stands for Land Investment Vehicle and this project is a first in Belgium. The process between the three partners is as follows: once the three shareholders have validated the acquisition, Eiffage will take over the reins, and the risk, of carrying out and marketing the residential and sustainable real estate development projects.

Belfius Insurance explained that the company does not take the investment risk and highlighted the opportunity ‘to have highly complementary exposure and liability in terms of risk diversification.’

The common project LIVe has an overall investment capacity of around 178 million euros to acquire properties fairly quickly in the three regions of the country.

 

 

Market

 

 

 

In recent years, the medium cost of home insurance has increased twice as fast as the health index, according to the Price Observatory. The reason for such an increase lies partly in the profitability of insurers. Therefore, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Minister of the Economy, wants to reduce the home insurance cost.

In an article published on the website of the French-speaking Socialist Party of Belgium, Pierre-Yves Dermagne explains that the adjustment of the ABEX index and the coverage for natural disasters partly explain the increase in the home insurance premium. However, according to him, the primary reason is due to the insurers’ margins and prices. Therefore, he wants to reduce them to offer fair prices for households.

According to Assuralia, the average profitability of home insurance increased from 4.4% to 18% between 2014 and 2021.

Moreover, the Federal Public Service of Finance declared that the tax on securities accounts, including a 0.15% levy on securities accounts over €1 million, will be extended to Belgian accounts of Luxembourg insurers.

This change results from a recent case law of the Court of Cassation and will have consequences for contracts in the Branch 23. Following this, the work of the financial institutions liable for the tax will be more complicated, as time is short for Belgian financial institutions to carry out required reporting and payments. If they do not have enough time, Luxembourg companies will have to pay the tax themselves.

On 5th October, the parliamentary committee on the economy unanimously approved the bill of MPs Robby De Caluwé (Open Vld) and Kathleen Verhelst (Open Vld) that will allow the right to be forgotten in guaranteed income insurance.

However, the political party N-VA wants this right to be extended to all insurances. Moreover, this party wants to remove the obligation to declare in insurance policies. The party’s members find it contradictory to the very essence of the right to be forgotten.

 

The valuation of the assets and liabilities of Integrale, acquired by Monument Re in early January, has been discussed by bondholders and shareholders of the company.

Earlier this month, the liquidator of Integrale, lawyer Nicholas Ouchinsky (Lexlitis), announced that he would appoint a panel of experts consisting of an auditor and an actuary to draw up an independent report on the accounting valuation of the various assets and liabilities of Integrale during the financial years 2019, 2020 and 2021 as well as on the continuity of the valuation of these assets and liabilities upon the transfer of the assets of Integrale to Monument Re.

After careful observations, this valuation was approved for the period 1 January to 17 December 2021 and 18 December to 31 December 2021.

 

 

Mid-October, Ethias stated having signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Insurance (UNPSI). The insurance company has previously joined UN Global Compact in 2014 and UN PRI in 2020.

Launched in 2012, these principles serve as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities.

By being engaged with these principles, Ethias is committed to reducing risks, developing innovative solutions, improving business performance and contributing to environmental, social and economic sustainability. This decision strengthens her ESG strategy, which is part of the objectives of the UNPSI.

More concretely, these objectives consist of:

  • Integrating ESG issues relevant to the insurance business into decision-making.
  • Raising awareness of ESG issues among clients and partners and encouraging them to better manage risks and develop concrete solutions.
  • Promoting global action on ESG issues within society through cooperation and dialogue with governments, regulators and other stakeholders.
  • Reporting on the implementation of the Principles and publishing their progress in a transparent manner.

 

 

Deloitte Belgium aims to recruit 1 700 new employees by 31st May. Already 6 000 people are part of the Deloitte adventure.

These recruitments are part of two objectives: to assert its role as a trainer and to support the growth of its activities. Therefore, the consulting company wants to diversify the skills of its employees.

 

 

Axa recently published her Future Risk Report 2022 and the conclusion is clear: climate risk is the greatest risk worldwide according to experts.

The Future Risk Report measures and ranks changes in the perception of emerging risks. Risk classification stems from the answers of 4 500 experts from 58 countries and a sample of 20 000 people representative of the population of 15 countries. The report is produced in collaboration with the research institute IPSOS and the geopolitical analysis consultancy Eurasia Group.

In the report’s classification, geopolitical risks come in the second position, followed by cyber risk. Energy-related risks are fourfold. Especially because of the current situation, three financial risks including financial instability, macroeconomic deterioration and monetary and fiscal tension are in the classification’s top 10.

 

 

The European Federation of Insurers and Reinsurers, Insurance Europe, issued two opinions on the following topics:

  • The European law aimed at creating a single European market for data and giving individuals and businesses more control over their data.
  • The European Commission’s proposal to extend the validity of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation by five years.

Insurance Europe approves these two propositions. Concerning the European law, the federation explained that it will allow insurance companies to develop innovative numerical services while being beneficial for consumers.

 

 

 
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DECAVI’s Life Insurance Trophies 2022

Last wednesday, the 23rd edition of the DECAVI’s Life Insurance Trophies was held in Brussels. Known as the Oscars of our industries, these awards aim, through in-depth analysis by a jury of specialists, to reward the best life products, and thus contribute to ensuring market transparency. 

The jury of this 2022 edition was composed of :

  • Pierre Devolder, UCL Professor, President of the jury
  • Laurent Feiner, Journalist, CEO, Decavi
  • Philippe Muys, Honorary President, Feprabel
  • Albert Verlinden, President, BZB-Fedafin
  • Marc Willame, Associate, Ensur
  • Erik Van Camp, Qualified member, IA|BE
  • Sandra Lodewijckx, Partner Lydian

This jury verified the performance and quality of all the contracts in competition on the basis of their profitability, insurance characteristics and innovation.

 

And the winners are…

 

Private Pension awards

      

Br23 awards

 

Independent pension awards

  • Private Supplementary Pension Scheme for the Self-Employed: AG (PLCI)

 

 

Risks awards

 

Innovation award (Services, claims management, products, …)

Digital

 

Social responsability  

  • AG
  • Ethias

 

Prevention

  • AXA Belgium

 

Sustainable investment

  • Belfius Insurance

 

Brokerage

  • AG

 

➡️ Check out the detailed presentation of each product

Appointments in Belgium – October 2022

Who are the most recently appointed directors and C-levels in Belux? October was a month of renewal, especially for European and international organizations.

 

Yuzzu - Team SD Worx

Erik Heggen

Erik Heggen has been appointed new Chief Executive Officer of Yuzzu. He will take office on 1st December 2022, after approval of the Belgian National Bank. He succeeds to Hélène Portegies.

He started his career at AXA in 2016 in the Distribution department. Later on, he joined the head office of the group in Paris and greatly contributed to the development of the ‘Ambition 2020’ strategy. Mid-2022, he joined Yuzzu as Chief Customer Experience Officer, in charge of marketing, online sales and partnerships.

Erik Heggen graduated as a Commercial Engineer at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

 

Christophe Hamal

Christophe Hamal becomes Chief Executive Officer of Baloise Belgium. Member of the Executive Committee since May 2022, he succeeds Henk Janssen. Henk Jassen will retire in January 2023 and will in the meantime ensure the transition with Christophe Hamal.

As a member of the Executive Committee, he focuses on the strategic objectives of the company and meets various departments and colleagues. Before that, he was CEO of Buy Way, a Belgian fintech, for five years. He also has considerable experience in financial consultancy.

Christophe Hamal has a master’s degree in Management Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and an MBA from the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD).

 

Hélène Portegies

Hélène Portegies, former Chief Executive Officer of Yuzzu, will be the new Chief People and Communication Officer of Allianz Benelux. She will therefore be a member of the Board of Management.

Prior to her appointment, Hélène Portegies was CEO of Yuzzu for five years. She has considerable experience in financial services, having been in charge of product development, marketing, operations, and IT.

As Chief People and Communication Officer, she will be in charge of human resources management, communication, branding, and sustainability of Allianz Benelux.

Lize-Mari Barnes

Lize-Mari Barnes has been appointed General Manager of Swiss Re Luxembourg. She succeeds Ivo Hux and will take office as from 1st January 2023.

Lize-Mari Barnes has joined the group for more than 16 years now. She became Chief Financial Officer Reinsurance EMEA in May 2012. She will maintain this position, in addition to her new appointment as General Manager.

 

Actuarial Association of Europe -

Lutz Wilhelmy

On 7 October, the European Actuarial Association (EAA) elected Lutz Wilhelmy, a German native working in Switzerland, as its new President.

Lutz has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2017 and has also been a Full Member, Delegate to the Professionalism Committee, Honorary Treasurer, etc. In addition, Lutz is Vice President of the Swiss counterpart association and was a member of the EIOPA Advisory Expert Group. The new EAA President has a master’s degree in Theoretical Physics and a Ph.D. in Mathematics, both from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich.

 

OICV-IOSCO - Iosco.org

Jean-Paul Servais

End of October, Jean-Paul Servais, the actual President of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), has been elected President for two years of the OICV-IOSCO, International Organisation of Securities Commissions.

A Belgian presidency is the first time in the history of the organization. The objective of the OICV-IOSCO is to promote sound and proper market practices worldwide and thereby contribute to the protection of investors and the integrity of financial markets. The organisation controls 95% of the world’s financial sector.

Since 2016, Jean-Paul Servais has been Vice-President of the international organisation. Additionally, he heads the European Regional Committee, has chaired the Finance and Audit Committee, and led a working group on the regulation of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). On behalf of the organisation, he has also served as Chair of the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, which oversees the work on sustainability reporting by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and as Co-Chair of the Monitoring Group on Audit.

 
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