Photo : DR
“Risk is inherent to company activity and can arise in very diverse forms. Today, to be genuinely efficient, the insurer must, more than ever, operate at the heart of the issues affecting its client.” The words of Philippe Vasseur, Manager of Business Operations for the insurance company MMA, illustrates one of the key ideas that form the credo of his group. MMA provides an offer adapted to the specific features of each of its client companies, elaborated in close collaboration with the latter. “To offer the most relevant services, we carry out an analysis with the company head, comprising an analysis of technology: for example, certain industrial machines, indispensable for the production procedure, are very difficult to replace in case of problems. Sometimes insurance agents are not aware that a waiting period of several weeks or months may be necessary before things can be sorted out. But our agents are entrusted the mission of specifically identifying core issues for a given situation, and will offer to cover the consequences of a stop to activity. This is why it is necessary to work hand in hand with specialists,” explains Bruno Odoux, Manager of the Company-Agent Division. A close relationship thus develops between the insurer and the client. However, no mistakes should be made about the role of the insurer: “insurance is not the only risk management tool available to company heads. There are some dangers that insurance cannot and should not cover. The lack of success of production is a risk that should be assumed uniquely by the company head,” he adds. “The risk management profession also deals with risks relating to banking or tax management. Situated at the edge of these aspects, we provide advice on those risks that we are capable of covering.”Company clients represent one-third of all the activities of the MMA group. “Our agents achieve 50% of turnover in the private client network, one-third in company insurance, and the rest in professional risks that notably affect trade or the agricultural market,” explains Bruno Odoux.MMA’s offer is aimed at all sectors and companies of all sizes. “In France, small companies represent one-third of our company client turnover, the other two-thirds come from mid-sized companies and those with over 500 employees. For historic reasons, we have a greater market share in the construction business than certain competitors, but we are positioned in all sectors of activity, from trade to industry via services and local authorities,” points out the Manager. The group’s agents are widely present at SME-level. “Let’s not forget that 90% of companies have under 20 employees,” recalls Philippe Vasseur. The MMA network is established at the local level and develops tight relationships with small organisations. He considers that “the wide presence of MMA throughout the French territory is a strong asset. Even in isolated departments, we have numerous agencies. Most studies show that the top criteria for determining a company’s choice of insurer is confidence.” Regular contact with the client is a guarantee of this aspect and visibly bears fruit. “MMA has worked with certain clients for several decades. Many have become successful on the international market,” points out Philippe Vasseur.“As an insurer, it is entirely within our interests to work in favour of a company’s development,” continues Philippe Vasseur. This is why MMA backs up its offer with a guarantee for loss of exploitation, aimed at providing maximum support to a company in case of major difficulty. As well as immediate damage caused by fire or a serious accident, the company head and the insurer must evaluate the indirect consequences of the event. “During the period of the company’s reconstruction and reinstallation, it continues to accumulate fixed expenses. The company must also be able to occupy other premises on a temporary basis in order to continue to produce. If it is absent from the market, even for a short period, it risks losing its clients. It is to face these aspects that we insist on the importance of a contract covering exploitation losses,” explains Bruno Odoux. This support covers the extra costs engendered by accidents. But rather than simply crediting a company with the equivalent of its turnover over a given period, help consists in assisting the client concretely, so that it is restored to an optimal situation as quickly as possible. “We go as far as paying a contractor to temporarily manufacture the products of the stricken company,” adds Bruno Odoux.These adapted solutions are backed up by the group’s reliability. Philippe Vasseur notes that today, reinsurance mechanisms are so well developed that risk exposure to which large groups such as his are subjected is spread out throughout the world. The insurance sector is becoming more and more internationally minded. “A strong action of concentration has taken place in recent years so that we are now amongst only five or six major players in the generalist market in France,” states Bruno Odoux. MMA has established a network with foreign insurers so as to widen its risk management. The group now has the means to cover all of Europe, most of the American continent, the majority of Asian countries, North Africa, and certain countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bruno Odoux underlines that “the heaviest demands today concern the former Eastern bloc countries where outsourcing and subsidiary creations are multiplying.”
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