Léger: Scor L&H turnaround begins to "bear fruit" but more work to be done

By Rebecca Delaney

May 7 - (The Insurer) - Scor CEO Thierry Léger gave a bullish outlook for a continuation of the performance turnaround in the company's life and health business during a media call on Wednesday, but warned that this will not be fully completed for another two years.

Scor posted an L&H insurance service result of 118 million euros ($134 million) for the first quarter of 2025, which Léger confirmed is "on track" to reach the full-year assumption of around 400 million euros under its Forward 2026 strategy.

Léger noted that the appointment last month of Philipp Rüede from rival Swiss Re as CEO of L&H marked a key step in Scor's efforts to restore the profitability of its L&H business, which he said are beginning to "bear fruit".

"We executed on our three-step plan established last summer to restore the profitability of our new and in-force business. I'm confident that Philip, with his experience and expertise, will be able to restore the profitability of our L&H business," Léger said.

Scor decided to accelerate an L&H assumption review across the U.S., Canada, South Korea and Israel after issuing a profit warning for the segment in July 2024.

The group confirmed in November that the review had been completed.

At the investor day the following month, Scor confirmed its core group financial and solvency targets for 2025-26, including assumptions for an L&H insurance service result and new business contractual service margin both of around 0.4 billion euros per annum.

However, Léger added on the media call that there remains work to be done before the full turnaround of the division is complete.

"For me, this is really just one quarter. I'm really pleased with the results of this quarter, don't understand me wrongly, but it's just one quarter. I was very clear that to turn around such a portfolio takes around three years," he said.

"We now have one year behind us. Obviously, this was a very significant year with everything that we have done. So we are pleased about this first quarter, but we are very much focused on the execution of our three-step plan, and we want to now deliver in this business for a few more quarters before allowing our confidence level to rise."

Léger noted that L&H in the U.S. remains Scor's largest in-force book of business, although this is not the case in terms of new business production.

Since the L&H review last summer, the reinsurer has looked to diversify away from U.S. lines to other classes of business, including longevity and financial solutions.

"We are pushing really hard for longevity and financial solutions in the U.S. I'm very pleased that over the last six months we have been able to close a few smaller to mid-sized transactions in the U.S. already," said Léger.

"I expect that part of the business to grow quite attractively in the next years. If I project two, three years ahead, we should actually have a much healthier, more profitable, better diversified, new business mix coming from the U.S., and it's going to continue to substantially contribute to the overall result of the group."

Scor confirmed in its Q1 2025 results that the April 1 renewals saw a 33% increase in its alternative solutions book, with U.S. casualty lines shrunk by 13% in the year to date.

"The L&H business profile can be quite effective for alternative investors, and you must assume that we are in constant contact with third-party capital providers under our risk partnership strategy to see where we can get capacity, including on our L&H business," Léger concluded.

"You must assume that we're definitely looking around and testing the market on a very regular basis. If there is any economically attractive trade to make, we will do it."