At BNP Paribas Cardif, innovation is (also) working for inclusion. It was therefore natural for us to support the Tangata initiative, a solidarity initiative created by Emmanuelle Fenard, Head of "maison entrepreneurs &Co" at BNP Paribas, former Head of Marketing at BNP Paribas Cardif France.

“Making insurance accessible to the largest possible number of people”, our company is committed to having a positive impact on society with this ambitious mission. An inclusive policy has therefore been implemented for vulnerable members of society, notably the 20 million people affected by disability in France. Our initiative is not limited to advancing the employment and professional integration of these women and men. It goes far beyond that, as evidenced by our “Act For Impact” social entrepreneur label, our partnership with the Handi Tech Trophy, which rewards the inventors of inclusive technologies, and the work we do with the association e-Nable for supporting families of children affected by agenesis*.

 

Leisure for all

To move further towards more inclusion, we also rely on the capacity for innovation of our employees, by encouraging and supporting their initiatives through an intrapreneurship program. This is how the Tangata project was born. The ambition of Emmanuelle Fenard, who designed it, was to accelerate the development of leisure activities accessible to all types of disabilities. Her solution? Creating a site to connect all the people concerned, their caregivers, and all the actors who respond to their needs: associations, companies, start-ups, etc. Tangata acts as a visibility lever for these organisations. The platform helps them deploy their offerings by increasing their awareness and giving them access to a network of partners, while guaranteeing the quality of services through the “Act for Impact” label. And, as it has been designed for them and is easy to use, the site allows people with disabilities to come out of their isolation and organise their leisure activities quickly and easily. Let’s take an example In just a few clicks, users can locate an activity, check its accessibility with respect to their needs, and consult the opinions of the Tangata community!

*born with one or more limb abnormalities.

 

 “I’ve been involved personally for a long time in initiatives relating to the social and solidarity sector. I’m proud to take it further today with my Tangata project.”

Emmanuelle Fenard, head of "maison entrepreneurs &Co" at BNP Paribas.

 

 

What if diversity is the key to future top performance? A growing number of businesses are convinced of this and are taking action to promote a management policy that includes their employees. The challenge is not only to respect individual differences, but to make these differences a core part of transformation and turn them into a collective asset, a source of innovation and progress. Let’s decipher this promising trend.

 

When the main French employers' trade-union (MEDEF) released its barometer describing how the nation perceived equal opportunity in 2018, the rate of employees expressing fears of discrimination in the workplace fell below 50% for the very first time. "This is the result of initiatives undertaken for several years by an increasing number of businesses which have made inclusion one of their human resources management priorities. The challenge is to guarantee their employees equal treatment based on their skills and performance, regardless of differences involving origin, gender, age, civil status, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, place of residence, state of health, physical appearance, etc." explains Laurent Depond, former Chief Diversity Officer at Orange, who advises a large number of organisations on workplace inclusion issues.

 

Liberté, égalité, diversity

The phenomenon was sparked a few decades ago by American multinationals in response to growing legal and regulatory measures against all forms of discrimination. It then spread to Europe where it was adapted to local cultures. "There is a specifically French vision of the concept, which focuses very sharply on creating the conditions for equal opportunity, whereas the UK model is based more on the freedom to express singularity" says Laurent Depond. But it’s no longer a mere question of businesses complying with administrative constraints to avoid legal, financial and image risks. "They’ve understood that diversity is a performance factor and a lever for transformation" sums up Laurent Depond. A factor with measurable effectiveness: Sodexo, which is highly active in promoting diversity, conducted an in-house survey of its managerial teams across more than 80 countries. The results showed that teams with a gender mix of between 40 and 60% achieved better business results than others.

 

Inclusion as a source of creativity

In an era of permanent change, adapting and developing involves attracting a wide range of employee profiles with varied experiences and cultures and making them work efficiently as a team so that involvement and creativity is stimulated when diverse points of view are confronted. On the other hand, an overly standardised environment stifles individual talents... when it doesn’t scare them away. "An employee who feels excluded from the work group will tend to withdraw further, resulting in a loss of information, performance and motivation, or even a desire to eventually leave the company. For instance, it’s no coincidence that in France, according to a study  by  l'Autre Cercle and Défenseur des Droits (independent administrative organisations) , homosexuals change employers twice as often as heterosexuals” , points out Laurent Depond. It is therefore no surprise to see businesses committing to inclusion.

 

More or less committed companies

 In France, nearly 3,900 organisations have made this commitment a reality by signing the diversity charter. Initiated in 2004, this charter helps organisations implement hands-on action and move forward through innovative practices, encouraging them, for instance, to adopt a reference text laying down the main lines of their diversity policy and measuring/monitoring tools. There are, however, several degrees of maturity in the processes undertaken.  "Sometimes they're just cosmetic, with little or no concrete action taken.  In other cases, businesses tackle various sources of discrimination, such as disability, while ignoring others like sexual orientation or religion.  Some of them adopt a compassionate posture. The most advanced among them promote transformational diversity: inclusion is then made an integral part of their strategy and supported by their managers, including at the highest level " explains Laurent Depond.. What about BNP Paribas Cardif?  "It’s among the top of the class, even though it operates in the bancassurance sector, which is traditionally reluctant to value difference. “

 

BNP Paribas Cardif aims to set an example

"Our company has achieved dual "Diversity and Professional Equality" certification by AFNOR” confirms Catherine Jacquemin, Responsable Diversité et Inclusion BNP Paribas Cardif. These labels commit us to step up our efforts towards equal opportunity and fairness. They're not granted for life. Our best practices are challenged every two years! The diversity policy, launched more than 10 years ago, is both long-term and highly active:  "We also reap the benefits of our CEO Renaud Dumora’s personal involvement, as he believes deeply in the virtues of diversity and intends to make our company a world reference in this area ", adds Catherine Jacquemin. To achieve its goal, BNP Paribas Cardif is raising awareness and training its managers with a threefold objective: to make them fully aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion, broaden their knowledge, and encourage all concerned to adopt the right managerial stance.

 

“Diversity Managers” conferences

For the past two years, a series of "Diversity Managers" conferences has brought together BNP Paribas Cardif managers with internal and external experts to discuss sexist behaviour, sexual orientation, disability, religion, stereotypes and, in the near future, intergenerational collaboration. "Each conference is held during working hours (and not at lunchtime or after 6 p.m.) and attracts an average of 200 managers. They are "sponsored" by a member of the executive committee, and Renaud Dumora is always in attendance from start to finish," explains Catherine.

 

Training modules dedicated to diversity

To back up the conferences, BNP Paribas Cardif has added a diversity module to the training syllabus for its local managers.  "It empowers them to discuss stereotypes, company agreements relating to diversity and appropriate behaviour for an entire morning, and always ends in a lunch dedicated to disability," emphasises Catherine Jacquemin.  A second one-hour module has just been developed for senior executives and their management committees.

 

New approaches and new tools

Building on what’s already been achieved doesn’t only mean anchoring good practices in the corporate culture and adapting them to changes in the laws against discrimination at work. It also means fighting human nature, since we tend to homogenise our environment and thus avoid diversity for fear of others, difference, and the unknown. "We need to try and limit these natural biases in the decision-making process, for instance during recruitment, by setting objective selection criteria and taking collegial decisions, etc. We can also help managers by using new approaches that are based on neurosciences and cognitive sciences," concludes Laurent Depond.

The law on equality and citizenship dated 27 January 2017 obliges all companies with more than 300 employees to train their managers every 5 years in recruitment without discrimination.

Surveys show that 90% to 100% of attendees at BNP Paribas Cardif's "Diversity Managers Conferences" are satisfied.

79% of BNP Paribas Cardif employees believe that their company's management promotes diversity (source: GPS 2019).

 

​

That’s it!

"If we want to set an example in our market, we have to tackle all forms of discrimination without exception and give our managers the knowledge and attitudes that make them feel better equipped to work for diversity." Sophie Joyat, Head of Human Resources at BNP Paribas Cardif

 

How does the insurance business adjust to the platformization? And what is at stake?

Find out what Wendy Wattebled, BNP Paribas Cardif start-up investment manager and Gil Cohen Managing Director EMEA at Open Legacy think about it

​

 

The 11th edition of the BNP Paribas Cardif Symposium took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 5 and 6 December 2019. This event brought together BNP Paribas Cardif’s main international distribution partners around the theme of: Tackling hyper-digitalised environments...

 

More than 200 participants, from 28 countries, attended keynote talks delivered by renowned speakers. It was an opportunity to share the risks and opportunities - for the planet, the business, the city and even individuals - posed by digitalisation pushed to its limits, and also to take a lead faced with the challenges of hyper-digitalisation for the insurance industry.  “Digitalisation is contributing significantly to polluting our planet, but also our minds” said Renaud Dumora, CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif, in the introduction. “The key is to find the right balance between digitalisation, which is a source of opportunities and new services, and human interactions which remain crucial.”

 

1.      Hyper-digitalisation and business

Catherine Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC (USA), emphasised the five major sources of innovation: blockchain, robotics, energy storage, artificial intelligence and genome sequencing. She said that “with hyper-digitalisation we are now observing transformations similar to those experienced with the discovery of electricity or the telephone.”.

“We’re not worried about job losses”, she noted. “Technology has a history of creating jobs.” Her conclusion is clear: “Any leader that does not take hold of Data and Artificial Intelligence to manage their business will responsible for its failure. If businesses do not adapt, they will lose their market. Be ready!”

 

 

2.      Hyper-digitalisation and the economy

For Christopher Pissarides, a Professor at the London School of Economics and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010, “hyper-digitalisation will disrupt our way of living and working”. The challenge? Making this revolution as inclusive as possible to improve the quality of life of all and to benefit as many people as possible. In the same way that some jobs benefit from new technologies, while others become obsolete, certain skills are becoming more valuable while others can be replaced. Thus two movements are developing in parallel. On the one hand, we have the agglomeration of activities, like in Silicon Valley, where tasks must be carried out by qualified employees. Businesses prefer positioning themselves where they have varied resources and skills at their disposal in order to perform better. On the other hand, we have e-commerce which allows platforms to sell from anywhere in the world. 

 

3.      Hyper-digitalisation and urbanisation 

Arjan Van Timmeren, Professor of Environmental Technology & Design at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, highlighted the acceleration of change in highly varied domains: energy, water, behaviour, sustainable development, etc. Digitalisation provides solutions - often more sustainable and efficient - to ensure that these changes succeed, even the most rapid ones. His advice? “To adopt new technologies with caution, taking into account people’s privacy, in particular.”

 

4.      Hyper-digitalisation and individuals

Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of ADDO AI (Singapore), used examples to demonstrate how hyper-digitalisation is already changing our lives, notably in cities like Singapore. “The question is not about knowing if new technologies work or not, but what their consequences are and how to use them well. To make good decisions, you need to remain human-centric. We should all be aware of the basics of artificial intelligence in order to grasp the issues at stake. The main threat is not the technology itself, but how to use it. It is all therefore a question of governance.”

 

All the speakers agree that we are now at a crossroads. Our collective decisions and actions point us to a future that we have the ability to shape. This hyper-digitalisation implies new challenges but also great opportunities for society, businesses and people. Indeed, it lets us respond more quickly and more accurately to the expectations of citizens, employees and consumers, provided that the inherent risks are handled carefully and that the dignity of people and the future of the planet are maintained under all circumstances.

 

The Internet of Things is giving insurers an opportunity to become the go-to partners when it comes to dealing with everyday risks. Paying out on insurance claims will become the exception rather than the rule. The new norm will be about providing prevention and protection solutions.

According to audit, tax and consulting firm PwC, close to seven connected objects per person will be in use worldwide in 2020. Market insights provider IoT Analytics estimates the number (NB: excluding smartphones, computers and tablets) at seven billion this year, ten billion by 2020 and twenty-two billion by 2025. In parallel with this surge in interconnectivity, a second trend is taking hold – cybercrime, which is now costing $600 billion per year worldwide (McAfee Labs), i.e. some 0.8% of global GDP.

 

Prevention is better than cureRanging from watches to tensiometers, pacemakers, scales, fridges, smoke detectors, locks, drones and cars, objects connected via the Internet which communicate with each other in real time in order to trigger action (Cigref’s definition), now promise to provide smarter, more personalised risk assessment. Here insurers see an opportunity to take a different approach to the way they assess, price, forecast and limit their policyholders’ risks. Meanwhile the insured have the prospect of obtaining tailor-made solutions on demand, at attractive rates.

Starting with the home, connected sensors enable smoke to be detected, and will ensure that an alarm goes off if a break-in occurs or a water-pipe bursts. US insurance company StateFarm offers its policyholders reductions on a range of Canary connected security equipment and residential security systems from US security services company ADT. Then when it comes to cars, the development of telematics solutions has enabled real-time assessment of driving behaviour so as to help avoid risks on the road. Thirdly, in the health field, hi-tech watches and other types of activity sensors now enable people to track their physical exertions, their heartbeat and the quality of their food intake. However, according to the latest report from audit specialists Deloitte, concern over the security and protection of personal data remains a considerable obstacle to the widespread adoption of these new insurance products, quite apart from any considerations of abuse and potential misuses of, for example, predictive health.

 

Cybersecurity as a business 

Meanwhile the trend towards connected objects is bringing with it an increase in the overall scope for and risk of cyber-attacks. Not only is this threat potentially very serious but such attacks often occur in total silence. Consequently, there is a market here in which insurers, as trusted third parties, should definitely be positioning themselves.

Deloitte experts calculate that, following the advent of self-driving cars within the next couple of years, the frequency of road accidents will plummet by around 80% by 2040, but what will happen if cyber-criminals manage to seize control of this type of vehicle? Although to date there have been no reports of cyber-piracy against autonomous vehicles, US researchers demonstrated in 2015 what might happen and a year later someone hacked into a Tesla. Meanwhile ‘white hat’ hackers have also shown the feasibility of remotely hacking a pacemaker.

Yoni Abittan, a strategic analyst at L’Atelier BNP Paribas who is an expert in applied research into cybersecurity, foresees that the insurer of tomorrow could well become a cyber tech company. He underlines “Connected objects are not ‘secure by design’ , i.e. designed from the very outset with security as a major consideration. Going forward, insurers will no longer be able to simply provide insurance services; they’ll need to position themselves upstream of the value chain, co-designing solutions in conjunction with the makers of connected objects so as to develop the layers of security needed to ensure a secure IoT before these objects start being produced on a massive scale.”

US insurer Allstate has already grasped this new challenge, and has acquired a startup called InfoArmor that specialises in employee identity protection. The figures indicate just how much is at stake here. In 2017, 600 million out of a total of 2.7 billion data sets that were compromised were instances of identity theft (Gemalto, 2016), incurring costs estimated at $16 billion in the United States alone (Javelin Strategy & Research, 2017). Moreover, studies show that the more trust customers place in a given company’s data security, the more likely they are to share their personal data with that organisation.

Yoni Abittan reckons that “the challenge of ensuring connected object cybersecurity is first and foremost an Open Innovation challenge for insurers because this is not their core business. They’ll need to work with the various players in the IoT ecosystem –makers of connected objects, suppliers of cloud computing services, software publishers and suppliers of technical platforms, telecoms operators and so on.” Yoni Abittan feels that tomorrow’s insurers will also have a duty to raise awareness of the underlying cyber-risks, by using, for example, the nudge technique. He argues: “An insurer could send alerts via the IoT giving information about the incidence of cyberattacks and directing customers to a data safe where they could keep their data secure.” Yoni Abittan points out that “some banks, such as HSBC, have already trialled behavioural motivation in order to prevent customers from going into the red. Using this method, the UK Treasury department succeeded in recovering the equivalent of an additional €289 million for the fiscal year 2012-2013.”

Meanwhile regulation regarding IoT security – notwithstanding the recent advances made in California – is still in its infancy. We can only hope that progress will be made in this field in accordance with what is at stake, i.e. the lives of 7.5 billion people.

 

 

Social media, connected devices, online purchases, visits to websites, email address, we all leave our trace on the Internet. What is the best way to protect our digital identity ?

 

 

 

2019 HandiTech Awards will be presented on 18 November to kick off European Disability Employment Week. The awards recognize entrepreneurs who develop technologies to improve the lives of people with disabilities. BNP Paribas Cardif, a global specialist in personal insurance committed to making insurance accessible to the largest possible number of people, will present the award for the best initiative in the healthcare category. BNP Paribas Cardif is sponsoring the HandiTech Awards for the second consecutive year, underscoring the insurer’s longstanding support for innovation that drives a more inclusive world. 

 

Make insurance accessible to the largest possible number of people: a future-facing mission 

The values and strategy of BNP Paribas Cardif are inspired by the insurer’s commitments. BNP Paribas Cardif strives to facilitate access to its products to enable everyone to make their projects become reality. Ten percent of the world’s population is affected by disabilities, representing 650 million people[i]. BNP Paribas Cardif continually enhances its insurance cover and services, reduces the number of exclusions and simplifies the insurance subscription process in order to expand access to insurance for vulnerable members of society who have a disability or suffer from a disease. Thanks to this approach the insurer contributes to greater solidarity in society.

 

Innovation drives inclusion

Technological advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics or digital technologies allow BNP Paribas Cardif to increase the granularity of insurance policies and create new offers that are continually better matched to the needs of its clients, including the most vulnerable among them.

In France, clients enjoy terms that facilitate access to creditor insurance. BNP Paribas Cardif introduced further innovations this year with its Cardif Libertés Emprunteur offer, which now proposes insurance cover and rates adapted to four additional pathologies: Parkinson’s disease, obesity, gestational diabetes and mental health issues related to a life event. Furthermore, in line with its diversity and inclusion policy, BNP Paribas Cardif supports the “Tangata.net” intrapreneurial project. This digital platform lists a broad selection of verified partners, providing access to a large number of leisure activities accessible to people with disabilities and adapted services to facilitate the daily lives of people with disabilities and their caregivers. Tangata.net also aims to accelerate the development of entrepreneurs and partner associations with the Act for Impact social entrepreneurship brand of BNP Paribas.

With a presence in 35 countries and a unique business model based on partnerships, BNP Paribas Cardif carries out numerous initiatives related to disabilities. In Taiwan, the insurer has set up a home visit service to make it easier for policyholders with disabilities to file claims. In Germany, a temporary disability assistance service helps clients in their day-to-day activities (advice, contacts for medical service providers, educational campaigns for drugs and treatments). And in Turkey, the Engelsiz Hayat Değer life insurance policy has been designed for families that have children with disabilities. It includes assistance services (reduced costs for medication, hospitalisation, physical therapy, etc.) in order to ease their lives.

 

All professions today are undergoing change, and insurance is no exception to the trend. The transformation is intense, fast and inexorable, and it calls on employees in the sector to take a breath… and to acquire new skills. To enable this to happen, BNP Paribas Cardif has already begun its own transformation process and it is now offering a number of key training modules to its teams. Renaud Dumora, Chief Executive Officer, explains how the company is preparing for the future of work.

 

How and why were training modules such as Programming, Data Science and UX Design chosen and tested by the BNP Paribas Cardif Executive Committee?

In my view, the most important movement underway in our industry is the one that is bringing us closer to digital technologies. It was very important for me that, given the development of digital-related professions, the Executive Committee know exactly what it is talking about. The UX designer, data scientist and developer will all take on more and more importance. It’s essential to understand these roles, to have discussions with people in these professions, in much the same way that we talk with actuaries or communications professionals.

And as we are launching on a large scale, it was essential to have a good knowledge of the central elements of the training programmes provided for our employees by General Assembly, one of the main training providers we work with.

 

What have you taken from these trainings? 

I attended and fully participated in these trainings. These areas fascinate me, and I followed their developments since the start of my career, which began in statistics. So I may have had more of an appetite for them than other people!

The first thing that surprised me was the format. The Executive Committee was given an accelerated module as a virtual class, because we were dispersed geographically. I was a little reluctant about MOOCs^* and distance learning tools, but it gives a group the opportunity of interacting online with a trainer while working over videos and slides. It’s easy to communicate through messaging and your concentrated is maintained. Being part of a virtual class with a real capacity for interaction is something that works. I finished the module with the desire to immerse myself in programming methods!

 

Will all professions be influenced in one way or another by know-how linked to programming, design and the use of data? 

Very clearly, yes. Wherever you are positioned in the value chain of insurance, you are going to be interacting with digital technology. It may be with end customers, or experts, or suppliers. More than that, digital technologies are going to directly disrupt many jobs internally. Take the Legal department, for instance. It’s a department that you’d imagine depends on the culture of books, on printed documents, on accumulated book knowledge… But that’s just a stereotype: in reality, zero paper already exists and there are already robots on the scene.

 

What criteria do managers apply to encourage their teams to take part in these training programmes?

Well, if employees ask their manager if they can take part in one of these trainings, it’s already great news! It means that we’ll have succeeded in creating a desire, of convincing that this necessary change is an opportunity. And let me stress that, because we are a methodical company, with a specific vision on this subject, training will not be offered blindly. It is to make the most of ourselves that we have introduced Strategic Workforce Planning, which is a strategic process that aims to identify the careers of tomorrow and support employees in upskilling. This provides us with a systemic vision that will find the best way of leading our 10,000 colleagues to other careers, to find the best way of pressing ahead with our transformation at a rate that will allow their aspirations to meet the company’s needs.

 

What are the benefits of these training programmes for managers?

Undeniably, the global preparation for the company’s transformation has to find its place at local level. At this level, of course, a manager’s obvious goal is to accomplish his immediate mission but he must also prepare his teams for the future. The training programmes we are putting in place will now enable him to fulfil this aspect of his role. We are going to help managers to move along this path. And we will do this in a sequenced, progressive manner.

 

What would you say is most at stake in these trainings? Having tools that facilitate customer relations? Improving employees’ employability? Business performance?

I think these training programmes address all these issues. Digital technologies help us improve our overall efficiency. Perfect service, customer experience and real time are less a challenge than something obvious. They’re not a luxury, but an absolute necessity. They’re already part of our environment, an intrinsic part of our business model.

 

Do you think that certain areas of our business are more likely to engage in these programmes than others? 

We tend to think that actuaries and information systems and IT professionals would have a more naturally immediate inclination to sign up for these training modules. But, if the enthusiasm of the Executive Committee members during the training sessions they were offered is anything to go by, everybody is onboard!

 

What will make it possible to say that the transformation will be a success?

Of course, we will rely on a range of metrics directly linked to training programmes offered by General Assembly, ranging from a week for upskilling^* to three months for reskilling^*. These indicators measure the educational added value of the trainings, i.e. a list of skills acquired, degrees of expertise, etc.

But what is most important for the company as a whole is to increase its capacity for development, its capacity to seize new opportunities to train existing teams.

 

*MOOC: Massive Open Online Course.

*Upskilling: development of skills.

*Reskilling: acquisition of new skills.

 

Discover our articles about the future of work :

BNP Paribas Cardif : a learning company that shapes the future of work

Preparing for the jobs of tomorrow with General Assembly

Agile and customer-focused, Product Managers are reinventing their profession

 

Sainsbury’s Bank and Cardif Pinnacle, BNP Paribas‘  insurance arm in the UK, announce today that they have joined forces to relaunch Sainsbury’s Bank’s Pet insurance. The new collaboration is building a comprehensive and digital pet insurance offering to support the needs of Sainsbury's Bank’s pet insurance customers in the UK.

Sainsbury’s Bank will introduce a core suite of products and services designed for Sainsbury’s customers. This offer will cater for the wide-ranging needs of cats and dogs. Supported by BNP Paribas Cardif’s analytics expertise, the shared vision is to create a range of products and services including a fully digitalised customer portal with online claims processing, agile and competitive pricing, 24/7 access to veterinary live chat, video chat, as well as behavioural and nutritional consultations offering dietary and lifestyle advice.

Sainsbury's Bank Pet Insurance customers who are Nectar members will have a guaranteed discount[1] and double Nectar points[2] when they swipe their Nectar card in Sainsbury’s stores, at Sainsbury’s petrol stations and online.

Under the terms of the  agreement, Sainsbury’s Bank and Cardif Pinnacle are committing to a long term mutual relationship.    

Andrew Wigg, CEO of Cardif Pinnacle said: "Today’s announcement reflects BNP Paribas’strategy to build its UK insurance platform, currently focused on Pet and Motor.  We are delighted to be partnering with Sainsbury’s Bank to provide a digitalised offering to support increasing and diverse customer needs."  

Karen Hogg, Head of Insurance, Sainsbury’s Bank said: “We’re very pleased to partner with Cardif Pinnacle. Our survey of Sainsbury’s shoppers[3] said that 75% would be interested in Sainsbury’s Bank Pet Insurance with lifetime cover added as a new product.  We’ll also offer a guaranteed discount to new Sainsbury’s Bank pet insurance customers who are Nectar members.”

 

BNP Paribas Cardif presents results of a survey of 26,000 people in 26 countries on 3 continents conducted with Ipsos

 

 

·         Concerns are primarily financial and social.

·         A predominant feeling of confidence looking ahead to 2025.

·         People play an active role in their future, with ambitious and multiple aspirations and concrete projects.

·         People also concerned about unforeseen life events, both financial and physical.

·         Insurance figures at the heart of expectations regarding protection and looking ahead to the future.

·         Creditor insurance and loans secure and facilitate projects.   

·         4 fundamental challenges for the insurer: maintain human contact, strengthen recognition of distribution partners as insurance providers, reconcile individual and collective benefits, support policyholders beyond compensation.

 

BNP Paribas Cardif has released the results of a survey of 26,000 people in 26 countries on 3 continents (Europe, Latin America and Asia) designed to assess the need for personal insurance coverage, and analyze changes in behaviours as well as peoples’ expectations towards insurance[1]. The online survey, which includes questions from a 2008 survey, was conducted with experts from the Ipsos opinion research company.

 

In 2019, people are mainly concerned with financial and social issues 

The concerns expressed by people surveyed in different countries are mainly linked to financial and social issues: pension financing (only 39% of respondents feel their situation is comfortable), social protection (43%), care for the elderly (46%), and purchasing power (47%), are the main individual and collective concerns.

The French are especially pessimistic compared with the European average in their assessment of the general economic situation (34% positive assessment compared with 53% in Europe), growth in purchasing power (23% vs. 46% in Europe), and pension financing (31% vs. 37% in Europe).

On the other hand, positive individual and collective perceptions dominate regarding housing (71 %), personal protection (nearly 65%), health and quality of health care (nearly 64%).

 

Multiple aspirations and plans for 2025 

Nearly 75% of respondents globally say they are confident in their personal future. However, there are significant differences between certain regions. Confidence in Asia was both highest (96% in China and India), and lowest, since only 48% of Japanese respondents expressed confidence in the future.

The French are less optimistic than the European and global average: 66% say they are confident, compared with 71% and 74%, respectively.

Asked to share photos or open ended answers, respondents expressed a multitude of ambitious aspirations for 2025. These plans ranged from dream jobs/financial stability, travel, a pleasant home, and an ideal family life, to happiness or purchasing a car. There were also very concrete responses regarding plans. Topping the list were holidays and material needs (purchase of household equipment, home renovation, purchasing a car or purchasing property), followed by education plans (for self or children, cited by nearly 53%) and entrepreneurial projects (nearly 50% globally and 75% among Latin Americans). People are thus more confident when they are actively involved in shaping their future.

Respondents are nevertheless concerned regarding life events: financial risks (financial loss or loss of income were cited by 72%), take precedence over physical risks (serious illness: 70%). This is a new development compared with the 2008 results, in which financial risk did not figure among the top three concerns.

 

Insurance for protection and to look to the future with confidence 

In this context, insurance is completely aligned with respondents’ expectations. To start with, insurance lets people protect themselves against unforeseen life events. Even though more than 60% of respondents (especially in Asia: 72%) feel well protected, nearly 67% (also especially in Asia: 83%) plan to subscribe insurance to protect against life events (financial loss, death, accidents, disability, illness, family event, theft, assault, etc.). 69% of the French feel better protected than the global average (61%) and the European average (64%). The French are also among those with the most insurance cover, although levels of cover are unequal: car theft and damage (61% vs. 36% globally), accidents (56% vs. 41% globally) and hospitalization (53% vs. 35% globally).

Insurance lets people look ahead to the future. Beyond savings and disposable income (58%), people want to know that their families and property will be protected thanks to insurance (28%), and 23% envisage taking out a loan to realize their projects.

Insurance will therefore play a pivotal role in the years ahead since it figures at the heart of major plans made by individuals and the means they intend to use to realize their projects. The feeling of security provided by insurance is therefore an important lever that allows people to take action and look to the future with confidence.

 

Creditor insurance and loans to secure and facilitate personal plans 

Credit is used to fund major projects: 51% of respondents have taken out a loan for a property acquisition and 72% expect to either take out a loan (or second loan) to purchase property, a car (56%) or to create a business (55%).

However, a loan can be a source of concerns: 69% of respondents believe that a serious illness could lead to an inability to repay a mortgage. 67% cite inability to work, disability and accidents, while job loss and death are cited by 66% and 64% of respondents, respectively. These concerns seem well-founded since 36% of respondents say they have previously encountered difficulties in repaying a loan (all categories of events included). This proportion shows significant growth: in 2008 only 22% of respondents said they had had problems repaying a loan.

In 2019, loan repayment protection is thus a more important issue than it was a decade ago.

In France, 62% of respondents (vs. 51% in Europe and globally) have previously taken out a mortgage. While purchasing property (76%) or a car (62%) are the two main projects for which people in France plan to use a loan, renovation work ranks third (53%).

Starting a business is fourth, with 42% of respondents (vs. 45% in Europe and 55% globally). Since they are well-assured, thanks in particular to loan repayment insurance, only 19% of the French have had problems meeting their monthly repayments (compared with 26% of Europeans surveyed).

What’s more, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65%) worldwide are aware of the availability of creditor insurance. They subscribe this insurance especially when they purchase property (42%) and cars (36%). The global respondents cite numerous advantages of creditor insurance: it protects their property (80%), their family (79%), it reassures them and provides peace of mind (77%), and facilitates the achievement of projects (74%). Creditor insurance also makes people want to achieve their projects (71%). In Latin America and Asia, percentages are significantly higher than the global average (+5 points for property protection and +6 points for family protection). Creditor insurance is above all perceived as a means to achieve plans by nearly 60% of respondents (compared with 41% in 2008). The trend is even stronger in Latin America (56% in 2019 vs. 36% in 2008). In France, creditor insurance is perceived as a means to achieve plans by 55% of respondents (compared with 64% at the European level).

 

Insurers are recognized as legitimate partners to support projects, but face numerous challenges 

• Maintain human contact: With the digital transformation, the primary challenge for insurers is to forge closer personal contact. The study shows that the insurance advisor is the contact of choice for 58% of respondents seeking information. What’s more, 72% of those surveyed say they would prefer a physical sales location to subscribe insurance. These channels must be supported by digital resources (websites, comparison tools, mobile apps, etc.) that facilitate the client journey.
• Strengthen recognition of distribution partners as insurance providers: 30% of respondents cite banks as the primary source for subscribing insurance products (ranked second, behind insurance companies), while 26% go to their bank when they want information (ranked 5th). The other insurance subscription channels (distribution partners from the automobile, telecoms, retail and other sectors) are currently not as well-known (cited by just 6 to 7% of respondents). BNP Paribas Cardif thus has a role to play to support the development of partners’ insurance expertise, as well as their recognition among the general public.
• Reconcile individual and collective benefits: insurers must find the right balance between:
  • the individual benefits of insurance with a refund of insurance premiums if no claims have been filed at maturity is ranked no. 1 among the criteria of an ideal insurance policy (39% of respondents), followed by personalization (36%), simplification (34%) and clarification (31%) of offers.
  • the collective benefits of insurance, about which respondents are more divided. The principle of solidarity is an essential criteria for just 13% of respondents. On the other hand, nearly a third agree that insurance should be accessible to the largest possible number of people “even the most vulnerable”.
• Support policyholders: Beyond claims processing (disability, immobilization, death, etc.), insurers must be able to offer additional services to policyholders to support them at all important stages of their lives. For example, if they had to stop working to care for a family member in the event of disability, 54% of respondents believe that it is indispensable to benefit from insurance cover that provides monthly payments, as well as aid to return to employment (advice, training, etc.: 40%) or psychological support (38%). In the event of immobilization, they feel it is essential to benefit from mobility support (47%), care for elderly relatives (43%), family assistance (38%) and medical tele-assistance services (35%). Lastly, in the event of death, they expect assistance with funeral arrangements (43%), repatriation of the body (47%) and transportation of a family member to the place of death (37%).

 

“Alongside our 500 partners in 35 countries, we are continually striving to improve our insurance offers around the world. To better meet the expectations of our clients we want to better understand and analyze their behaviour, as well as the ways they purchase insurance. By enriching our protection insurance and savings offers as well as our services and by making insurance accessible to the largest possible number of people, BNP Paribas Cardif is meeting the challenges identified by this study. We have pursued this approach for many years and we will continue to drive progress in the future,” stated Renaud Dumora, Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Cardif.

Brice Teinturier, Deputy Managing Director of Ipsos France, added: “A billion people around the world today use their mobile phone as the sole means of accessing the Web and have a tablet. In 2020, 80% of adults will have a smartphone. This is why we used a 100% online methodology for this survey, which covers nearly 60% of the global population in this representative segment. Respondents were able to complete the survey from a computer, tablet or smartphone. They could also dictate answers and upload photos they felt were meaningful.”