Guest of franceinfo, Florence Lustman, the president of France Assureurs asked its members to take quick decisions to help the victims following the urban violence. His call was heard.
How to cope? After the urban violence of recent days, the federation which represents almost all insurers invites its members to facilitate the payment of deposits, to speed up the process of compensation. Insurers and bank insurers quickly announced initiatives, in particular the extension of the deadline for filing a claim from five to thirty days.
This is important, because when you are a merchant or craftsman and your establishment is ransacked, the priority, after having suffered the blow, is to secure the premises, make an initial assessment, etc. It takes time. The 15-day extension of the declaration period is therefore clearly welcome. Others promise to speed up the compensation process or to facilitate the payment of installments to deal with the most difficult situations.
Lessons learned from the crisis
And that echoes with the recent past. In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, the major insurance companies were slow to react. Reviled by restaurateurs, reprimanded by the government, they ended up feeding a solidarity fund of six billion euros. This time they have taken the lead, and they are not alone. The bank insurers (bankers who also offer insurance products) announce concrete actions such as a reminder within 48 hours at the latest of customers who have declared a claim.
This is the case of BPCE – Banques Populaires Caisse d’Epargne. Crédit Agricole, for its part, opts for an exceptional cancellation of the deductible for damage caused to traders, but also individuals. Ditto for Crédit Mutuel.
More responsive mutual and cooperative banks
Mutualism and cooperativism have the particularity of not having shareholders. Crédit Mutuel and Bred Banques Populaires, to name a few, are not listed on the stock exchange and therefore do not have the pressure of the markets or excessive profitability.
In the absence of shareholders, mutual establishments have what are called members, who are none other than customers. Each of these banks’ customers owns shares in the company, an implication that encourages managers to be more proactive on their behalf. In any case, with the current events, these establishments have so far shown themselves to be much faster and more responsive than the other large commercial banks which have set up shop.