INTERVIEW
With the coronavirus crisis, insurers are making significant savings. The first company to learn from this situation is Maif, which announced Thursday to return 100 million euros to its policyholders.
"In this period of confinement, there is a considerable drop in car traffic and therefore in road accidents. Over a hypothetical period of eight weeks of confinement, we have calculated that we will achieve savings of 100 million euros. We decided not to keep this sum but to return it to our members, "explained Pascal Demurger, the director general of Maif, on Europe 1 Thursday.
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Either a refund or a donation for the fight against the coronavirus
"We offer them either to benefit from a reimbursement from Maif, or to make a donation for the benefit of nursing staff, medical research and the most vulnerable, on a website that we make available to them. Given the scale of the crisis, it is up to everyone to be responsible and united, "detailed Pascal Demurger.
At the end of March, the Insurance Federation had announced that French companies would contribute "up to 200 million euros" to the national solidarity fund for very small and independent businesses.
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MEPs call for more efforts from insurers
Since the start of confinement in France, insurers have been accused by certain elected officials of not helping companies and self-employed workers hit by the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The socialist deputies proposed Thursday to institute an exceptional contribution of the insurers of 500 million euros to the support of the weakened companies, including the 200 million announced. Insurers are providing "a considerable effort" to support the economy in the order of 3 billion euros, defended Jean-Laurent Granier, vice-president of the French Insurance Federation.
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