Page 21 - October 2022 Issue 611 Part 2
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Hedi Hachicha (CUO, P&C Re, Middle East & Africa SCOR):
We will continue to focus on profitability
and alignment of interest
SCOR, one of the world’s largest reinsurers, provides its clients with a diver-
sified and innovative range of solutions to control and manage risk. It
believes that like artists, we have to learn, imitate, mimic, and then innovate, in
order to find our own style and create our distinctive work. Hedi Hachicha,
CUO, P&C Re, Middle East & Africa at SCOR, is an experienced personnel who
leads and develops an evolving and dynamic team of professionals focused on
profitable growth via strategic thinking and vision. On the sidelines of the Monte
Carlo Rendez-Vous, Al Bayan Magazine met Hachicha and conducted an inter-
view in which he expressed his point of view regarding inflation and cyber risks.
He further talked about the recent increases in interest rates and shed lights on
their latest achievements as well as their strategy concerning the Arab markets.
• Inflation is a major concern nowadays. How is it affecting the insurance • How do you view the recent increases in interest rates?
and reinsurance markets? - The long term impact on the insurance industry is positive obviously because
- Inflation is definitively a key topic of discussion this year in the Monte Carlo any increase of interest rates on the long term would help insurers to produce
Rendez-Vous because we are noticing everywhere a huge increase of infla- higher investment income. On the short term if these interest rates are rising
tion in certain part of the world, we are not used at all to have that especially very rapidly in a way that can hit the asset side of the balance sheet and this
in Europe or America or elsewhere so this is a general trend that is amplifying is what we have been noticing in the recent months so on the short term, the
and expanding across all territories. Obviously, inflation affects the future lia- rising interest rates could be negative.
bilities so you need to charge the right premium and to take that into account
in the sum insured. It also can affect past losses on the reserving so it is an We were the first company that supported the
important component that is adding new uncertainty to an industry that has
been in the last years quite heavily impacted by various uncertainties and Lebanese market and funded losses for the small claims
claims. Thus, it is putting additional strain and pressure on us and ourself we
are clearly asking our clients how do they tackle inflation, if they follow the • Did you settle all the claims regarding the Beirut Port explosion?
market inflation looking at market statistics or themselves looking at their claim - On the Beirut blast, we have been having conversation with all our Lebanese
cost for the different line of business and whether they seek from their insured partners. We were the first one to start supporting the Lebanese market and
revaluation or whatever market index that is available like the building cost funding losses for the small claims despite the fact that the cause of the Beirut
index that exist in certain territories. blast wasn’t determined and there is an investigation that is still ongoing and
it is sad to say that two years after there is still no report on the cause of what
Before speaking about insurance, we need to happened that day. Nevertheless, the reinsurance industry has behaved
responsibly in providing support to the Lebanese and settling most of the small
tackle cyber security claims, and ourselves we have responded positively to our clients.
• Cyber risks are also a major concern and it is said that there is not • Will there be any changes in your strategy concerning the Arab markets
enough capacity in the world market to contain the risks. How can insur- after all the events that have occurred worldwide?
ers address this problem? - Our clear priority is to continue to focus on profitability and alignment of inter-
- Cyber is a market that is growing rapidly. In recent years with the pandemic, est. That has been the case for quite some time but the focus this year is proba-
digitalization has been accelerated and most corporations now use all the new bly to emphasize on the expected profitability. In the recent years since 2017,
tools and technique to meet people and for all their processes and business reinsurers have not covered the cost of capital and there were many Nat Cat
they carry out. With that, cyber could have a huge impact on the corporations, events essentially from secondary perils i.e. natural catastrophes that are not
so the demand clearly is increasing. There is one thing however to take into related to earthquake but related to climate change. As a result of that, there is
account which is the fact that before speaking about insurance, we need to more attention on that and the lack of profitability has been noticed. This year in
tackle cyber security and to have a proper processes, tools and culture to deal the studies of several brokers the capital provided by reinsurers is declining so
with this exposure and corporations need to be well prepared and only when there is a reduction above ten percent. As inflation and exposure are going up,
they are well prepared, they could pre-
sent the risk to the insurance market the demand and offer of capacity in rein-
which in return can provide an insur- surance is becoming a turning point and
ance solution. The insurance solutions we believe that the market is going to fur-
are not that obvious because capacity ther harden and we expect prices to go
is not that big, it is constrained. We up and ourself we definitively intend to
have understood with pandemic that deploy the capacity privileging diversified
certain risks are systematic and cyber relationships and balanced relationships
is a risk that could concentrate world- with genuine partners i.e. clients that
wide because of cloud or certain understand well where we are and where
devices on the internet. In addition to we are coming from so that they can
that, there is a new element in cyber share the fortune properly.
which is the fact that cyberattacks have
increased a lot worldwide. That is also • What are your latest achievements?
the case in our region and ransom - On November 9, we will announce our
requests have also been seen every- new strategic plan during which we will
where. present all the directions for the years
to come.
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AL BAYAN ECONOMIC MAG - ISSUE 611 - OCTOBER 2022
