COFACE SA launches Power the Core, its 2024-2027 strategic plan with a view to develop a global ecosystem of reference for credit risk management - Seite 2

In order to reach these ambitious targets, we will leverage our unique culture of a human-sized multinational, dedicated to its clients and deeply committed to our responsibilities in sustainability matters.
We are again upgrading our through-the-cycle financial targets and are now targeting an additional positive 50bp contribution from Business Information services to the group RoATE starting in 2027.
Our employees’ and partners’ commitment will be, like for our previous plan a critical pillar of our collective success at the service of our clients.”

1.   Strong foundations: Build to Lead has met or exceeded all of its targets

Our Build to Lead plan was presented in February 2020. Its execution happened in a particularly shaky environment: pandemic, inflation outbreak, brutal rise in interest rates, war coming back in Europe. Coface has stuck with its strategic direction and was able to rely on its agility to reach or exceed, all of its plan’s targets.

Beyond the financial targets, Coface has simplified its operating model, notably by reducing the number of IT systems by 40% and by decreasing its IT complexity index by 25%.

Over the 2020-2023 period, Coface’s combined ratio was significantly reduced and reached 69.1% on average, a level well below the Build to Lead target and at the best level in the industry. The cost ratio constantly decreased while the loss ratio benefited from past investments in the risk management infrastructure.

Revenues grew on average by 6% per annum, supported by a record retention and by our clients’ turnover growth.

Over the last 4 years, return on average tangible equity was 10.8%, above the 9.5% target.

Finally, despite the numerous shocks, be it economic, financial, or political, Coface’s solvency has constantly remained above its target range which permitted to Coface to be in 2020 one of the very first European insurance companies to restart, with a share buyback, returns to shareholders.

In 2019, the Business Information services were still relatively immature. Since then, they pursued their development and confirmed their growth potential. This activity has strong synergies with Trade Credit Insurance and relies on the same risk infrastructure. It is currently profitable despite significant growth investments. The growth of this pure service activity, which requires no regulatory capital, reached 13% on average between 2019 and 2023.