International 20/06/2006		To find out more about Finaref's insurance business ››
Finaref insurance products conquer Europe Finaref insurance products are already available in 14 European countries and our horizons are broadening ... In 1998, Finaref started selling insurance products and set up two Irish companies for the purpose - Finaref Life and Finaref Insurance. For eight years now, Finaref has been developing, distributing and managing three types of insurance products: credit insurance, sold alongside consumer credit in stores; insurance for mobile consumer electronics (mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players, etc.) in the form of guarantees or extended guarantees; and life health and accident products, to cover Finaref customers and their families against life’s contingencies. A lever for international growth This business has grown strongly in Europe over the last five years. Insurance now helps drive Finaref’s international growth and will do so in the future for Crédit Agricole S.A Group. Finaref insurance policies are commercialised in 14 European countries by retailers and financial partners. Total premiums for policies under management were 276 million euros in 2005 (up 75% over 2004, with a corresponding increase in sales of 33%). Finaref Life and Finaref Insurance operate under the freedom of services principle, which means that they can sell their products in any country of the European Union without needing a local subsidiary. Furthermore, to expand its European insurance business Finaref can exploit one of its major strengths, its Dublin service centre. Multilingual staff can talk to partners in different countries in their own language, and can handle different currencies. This makes Finaref’s approach to marketing and actuarial matters a pan-European one, and enables new innovative products to be developed based on the best practices in the EU. Sales operations in three pilot countries Finaref was chosen in 2005 by Crédit Agricole SA Group to develop its credit and bank card insurance business internationally, and therefore has strong growth potential. Its product range has been expanded to cover mortgage insurance and international insurance for bank cards. It has developed a range of Europe-wide products to match the global approach of customers such as the in-house finance companies of car manufacturers. Lightweight sales structures are currently being set up it three pilot countries, Italy, Germany and Spain, to support this European commercial strategy. Previous Next