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  • 2008/04/21
  • 3 min
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Paris, 18 April 2008

Pacifica, Crédit Agricole S.A.'s property/casualty insurance subsidiary today inaugurates a new claims handling site in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg. It is the 15th claims handling site set up by Pacifica, which is now organised around 11 property/casualty sites and 4 legal protection sites.

Pacifica is France's leading property/casualty bancassurer. This new site maintains its development in France's regions, confirming its decision to operate as closely as possible to its policyholders and the partner banks that sell its policies, i.e. Crédit Agricole's Regional Banks and LCL branches.

LCL has distributed Pacifica's insurance products since January 2008, following Pacifica's 2007 acquisition of the business previously operated by Assurances Fédérales IARD. The novel aspect of the Strasbourg site is that it houses two complementary teams, with one focusing on helping clients that have suffered a loss, and the other supporting bank advisors. This organisation has enabled Pacifica to keep on the staff who were employed at the Strasbourg site when the business was acquired, and to make the most of their skills.

When it was created in 1990, Pacifica took the innovative step of putting claims handling at the heart of its organisation. Quality of service, proximity to policyholders, personalised customer service, innovation, responsiveness and trust, together with a firm grip on underwriting costs, are the key aspects of Pacifica's claims handling system. In practice, policyholders have a freephone number for reporting claims, and deal with a single contact person until their claims are settled. Pacifica's loss adjusters also travel to meet with policyholders who have experienced more complex losses, in order to deal efficiently with difficult situations.
Pacifica's claims administration centres across France handled almost 560,000 claims in 2007, with a customer satisfaction rate of 95 per cent (1).
Patrick Duplan, Pacifica's CEO, commented "this new site, which already employs 80 staff, confirms our strategy of making claims handling a central part of our development, which relies on providing a high-quality service to our policyholders".

About Crédit Agricole Assurances
Insurance is now the second-largest business of the Crédit Agricole Group, which is France's No. 1 bancassurer and No. 2 insurer in terms of premium income. By pooling all its insurance activities, Crédit Agricole has improved its bancassurance model and visibility on these activities. Crédit Agricole Assurances was set up in January 2006 and encompasses life insurer Predica and property/casualty insurer Pacifica, international insurance, loan insurance and bank-related risk insurance.

Key figures for Crédit Agricole Assurances (at 31 December 2007 - includes France and international, life insurance, property/casualty and loan insurance)

  • 24.3 billion euros in premium income
  • 182 billion euros in underwriting reserves
  • 25.6 million policies
  • 941 million euros in net income (Group share)
  • 2,294 employees

(1) Customer satisfaction survey carried out each year by Pacifica's claims handling department on a sample of 1,000 customers who have suffered a loss.

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