EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Groupama has announced its new strategic plan for the years 2010-2012. Thierry Martel, welcome. You are Managing Director of Groupama’s insurance business in France. Under the new strategic plan, you are responsible for accelerating organic growth in your domestic market. Before getting on to that, a few words in assessment of the last few years?
TM: I think our overall achievement is highly satisfactory. We broadly reached our target numbers in spite of a tough economic environment, particularly in the last two years. To illustrate this, one number only perhaps - the growth of our life assurance business. In the first nine months of 2009, premium income grew by around 25%. This is quite remarkable in a market where growth generally was barely 9%. Over and above the figures, I would like to focus on three points which I believe are particularly significant. The first is the successful launch of our advertising campaign, Cerise. This has really boosted our brand awareness. We scored about 23% brand awareness before the campaign, which has now risen to 31%, among the highest in the market. The second point is the successful launch of Amaguiz. This allowed us to develop a new wayof selling property-casualty insurance on internet. The growth rate was very considerably above our expectation. The third point is the partnership with Banque Postale. Groupama, in its response to the tender, was in competition with all the players in the market, and ultimately we were chosen for our know-how. We can be proud of that.
EBM: In this very difficult economic environment which we are all familiar with, you still feel today that you can announce a strategic three-year plan?
TM: Absolutely. I believe managing a company without a plan is too uncertain. We must have a plan, even if the macro-economic situation is more complicated than in the past. Having said that, a plan should be adapted depending on circumstances, and that’s what we’ll do, depending on what actual economic growth requires. But beyond the economic variables, we must remember this: that we have very substantial margins for improving our organic growth. This is what we were able to demonstrate initially, in our last plan. And we shall confirm this in the forthcoming plan. Groupama’s financial strength has enabled us to keep up our levels of investment, right though the toughest times of the recession. Now we have every expectation that we will reap the rewards in years to come.
EBM: Is this 2010-2012 strategic plan more about continuity or about breaking with the past?
TM: Clearly, this is a plan for continuity. Our strategy remains unchanged, our action plans are part of a continuing strategy. In 2008-2009, we demonstrated that our strategies were successful, and that they fostered sustainable growth. We’re continuing to work towards that perspective, while focusing on three priorities. The first priority is continuing to expand in large cities. We have invested heavily in the mobile sales network in opening new branches, particularly in Paris. We expect to reap the rewards over the next three years. The second priority is the internet. A moment ago, I mentioned Amaguiz. But beyond direct sales on Internet, the Web has become a channel of great importance for the traditional brands, and an integral part of a multi-channel sales and marketing approach. We have tripled the number of internet price quotes we issue. Now, these quotes need to be converted into contracts. This is the major challenge for us in the next three years. The last dimension is naturally banking as Groupama is both a banking and insurance group. We have introduced banking services into our retail network. Our business has been extremely encouraging in the consumer credit field, where we scored growth of more than 30% in 2009. We need also to continue investing in the development of high street banking. Here too, we have fine prospects for growth, and we fully expect to use that to our advantage.
EBM: Thierry Martel, Managing Director Insurance France, I thank you.
TM: Thank you.
