This is a case that should interest 11.6 million French people insured by MMA, Maaf and GMF. The Covea group, which owns these three mutuals, has built up a war chest within itself, intended to buy the reinsurance company PartnerRe, itself based in Bermuda. A redemption of nine billion dollars, contrary to the Mutual and Insurance Code, itself based on the principles of solidarity and redistribution in the event of a surplus.
The mutualist spirit flouted
As explained by lawyer Dominique Paillé, guest of André Bercoff on Sud Radio, ” the war chest should, as other mutuals have done, be redistributed to the members, because it is solidarity that is the fundamental principle of these mutuals “. While mutual companies are authorized to carry out reinsurance, they can only do so as an ancillary activity.
To counter the acquisition of the reinsurer PartnerRe, based in Bermuda, the businessman Didier Calmels formed an association to sue the mutual group Covea. For him and the Association for the Safeguarding of Mutualists (ASPM), ” the war chest accumulated by mutuals should be paid back to members via a reduction in premiums instead of serving as reassurance. If Mr. Calmels asserts “ be able to understand that a CAC 40 company is going to grow abroad “, he finds ” shocking for a mutual to do the same. This operation is all the more astonishing in that it completely falls outside the field of intervention of mutual insurance companies, which is in principle national, and which should never go into the international arena.
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Ongoing proceedings
At the end of February, Didier Calmels and the ASPM filed an appeal against the takeover of PartnerRe by Covea with the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR). The main reason for this action is directly related to the policy of PartnerRe, whose main activity is the reinsurance of foreign risks. If the regulator does not respond within two months, Didier Calmels and the ACPR will be able to seize the Council of State.
A summons to the merits of Sgam Covea and its mutuals has also been filed with the Paris Court of Justice. It concerns two requests: the first relates to the prohibition of the repurchase operation. Lawyer Me Olivier Dillenschneider, in charge of the case, said:
“Judicial time will certainly be longer than business time. There will certainly not be a decision rendered in June, at which time the takeover should be completed. We have therefore requested that the operation be canceled if it is carried out in the meantime”.
The second request relates to the illegality of the takeover operation, because the Insurance Code specifies that a mutual company can carry out a commercial activity, but only on an ancillary basis. Consequently, Didier Calmels’ lawyer asks ” that it be noted that the organization of the Covea group does not comply with the Insurance Code, because most of the resources are housed in Covea Coopération, which is a commercial company. The rule according to which surpluses generated by operations must be returned to members in the form of premium refunds is not respected ».
“We can consider that there are 11 million members and that there are 11 billion today to be distributed, which makes 1,000 euros per member. said Dominique Paillé.
France has been experiencing accelerating inflation for several months, and the poorest French people are suffering from this soaring price. They would certainly not be against this rebate.