The Senegalese insurance market is doing relatively well and has enjoyed good momentum for several years now. In this, it is also a relevant indicator of the good trajectory of the Senegalese economy driven by the implementation of the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE).

To illustrate this assertion, we can note that over the period 2014-2019, the activity of insurance companies experienced a significant jump with a turnover which increased from 101 billion to 189 billion CFA francs, resulting in a change in the penetration rate, which measures the sector's contribution to GDP, from 1.03% to 1.35%. This is therefore a very positive dynamic of the Senegalese insurance market.

This dynamic is also reflected in the benefits granted to policyholders and beneficiaries of insurance contracts, which are constantly changing, despite what one might think.

Thus, over the reference period mentioned above, claims paid by Senegalese insurance companies rose from 45.30 billion to 74.16 billion FCFA.

The good dynamics of the sector could also be appreciated through its contribution to the financing of the national and regional economy, that is to say in the function of institutional investor in insurance.

Thus, the stock of investments made by Senegalese insurers over the reference period increased from 203.9 billion to 310.5 billion, with a good predominance of investments in government securities (Treasury bonds, government bonds ).

These are all indicators that attest to the good health of the insurance sector, a good health that should now be translated, on a regular basis, into the quality of the service provided to the beneficiaries of insurance products.

This is what the supervisory authority, whose mission is exercised in the interest of policyholders and beneficiaries of contracts, strives on a daily basis.

In the public management of the pandemic, we are witnessing a gradual resumption of economic activity, and of course that of the insurance which precisely accompanies this economic activity.

At the current stage of development, it is really premature to make an estimate of the impact of the crisis on airline operations. Like the other segments of the economy, the insurance business will however be impacted and will experience a decline in growth for this year.

Take the example of car insurance with the population containment measure. Many policyholders, especially in the field of public passenger transport (TPV) which has suffered greatly from the crisis, will have remained for a good period without renewing their insurance contracts because the risk practically did not exist.

And motor insurance represents on average between 25 and 30% of the total activity of P&C insurers.

Insurance of imported goods will also experience a significant decline due to the decrease in imports over the recent period.

The same goes for travel insurance, international travel having experienced very broad restrictions. Not to mention the insurance coverage in the Aviation branch with grounded planes, which certainly results in suspensions of insurance guarantees.

The only downside that we could raise is that our country, our continent, was affected by the pandemic at the start of 2020, after a period when, for the most part, major accounts have finished renewing, over a year generally, their insurance policies.

One could add that the first insurance subscriptions, in respect of oil and gas risks, could mitigate to some extent the loss of expected growth.

The results of the survey carried out by the Directorate General for the Financial Sector and Competitiveness showed that the impact would be very negative on the sector.

In consultation with insurers, the following resilience measures have been proposed to limit the consequences of COVID 19 on the insurance industry:

the postponement of phase 2 on the increase in the share capital and the establishment fund of insurance companies;

Payment of premiums due by the State and its branches to relieve the cash flow of insurance companies;

strengthening the insurance subsidy for agricultural risks;

I would like to point out that “operating loss” policies do not give rise to any particular interpretation, even if the debate is currently arising in the insurance sector in Europe.

Because in practice, the “Business interruption” guarantee is generally backed by a main guarantee, in particular a Fire or Breakdown of Machines guarantee, or even an All Computer Risks guarantee, for example.

In these cases, we know in what context the operating loss will come into play and there is no need to interpret the contract.

Now, when the Insurer grants an operating loss cover to companies, without this operating loss being the consequence of a named peril, you will also agree that there can be no interpretation on the coverage. of the insurer, except in the cases of exclusion which would be provided for by the insurance agreement.

In terms of exclusion, which means non-coverage of the risk and therefore damage left to the responsibility of the insured, there can be no implication, and the regulations are very clear at this level.

For one to speak of exclusion, it must not only be provided for in the insurance contract, but it must be transcribed in very visible characters: this is the wording used in the insurance code. .

The pandemic risk may well be the subject of an exclusion, because of its systemic nature, but the insurance contract should clearly mention it.

Speaking of the law on local content in Senegalese news, we mainly think of the oil and gas sector, a sector in which the Senegalese authorities are trying to take all the guarantees so that the country's economic operators can benefit from the fallout from the exploitation of our energy resources.

But to return to the insurance sector, I must point out that "local content" has been a major concern of the Community legislator since the advent of the CIMA code, which materialized it in the provisions of the said code of 1992.

This local content policy is expressed legally through the protective provisions of our local companies, by a ban on direct insurance abroad of risks located in our territories, except with the express authorization of the Minister in charge of the sector.

And in this context, a significant change has occurred in relation to this ban which, until 2016, could suffer from an exemption from the Minister in charge of insurance who had the latitude to authorize this direct insurance abroad.

The development to which I alluded removes this possibility of derogation, and therefore the placement of insurance contracts with non-approved operators on our territory.

This protective measure has been extended to the reinsurance mechanism which, in essence, is international; the recent measures adopted by the CIMA legislator reflect a concern to guarantee local content even if, with regard to reinsurance, the legislator thinks more of the CIMA zone when speaking of local.

This means that from the point of view of insurance, local content has found real regulatory expression, and this goes beyond the risks associated with hydrocarbons.

It is now up to the operators to give themselves the means to assume these measures and provide the necessary security to investors, to all economic players.

On the side of the legislator, it is in this sense that the recent measures to increase the minimum share capital of limited liability insurance companies are also inscribed, which must increase from 1 to 5 billion FCFA by 2021, as well as the funds for the establishment of mutual insurance companies, which increases over the same period from 0.8 billion to 3 billion FCFA.

The increase in the share capital of insurance companies to 3 billion in June 2019 was an intermediate step in the process of raising the share capital mentioned earlier for the 2020 horizon.

It is first necessary to fully understand the objective of the regulation, which is part of a desire to strengthen the financial capacity of insurance companies in the CIMA zone; this is also the reason why the increase measure is accompanied by a capital requirement equivalent to at least 80% of the share capital.

What is very notable on the Senegalese market is that overall the companies, in damage insurance as well as in life insurance, were able to proceed with the capital increase of 3 billion, without this resulting in merger operations between companies.

In some cases, we were able to witness an opening up of social capital to local economic actors or external partners, which gives an opinion on the level of attractiveness of the insurance sector for investors.

One might think that the global health crisis, which has affected and continues to affect our economic sector, including insurance, could constitute a major constraint for investors.

At the level of the General Secretariat of CIMA, but also at the level of the supervisory authorities in the Member States, the impact of this crisis is being monitored and analyzed, in order to adapt certain provisions to which subject the actors; this is already reflected in deadline extensions granted to insurance companies in the transmission of certain regulatory documents.

In view of the situation, the measure to increase the share capital to 5 billion in 2021 could be postponed, but this will be the subject of all the appropriate analysis at the level of the CIMA committee of experts, of course. by being attentive to the players whose solvency and ability to meet their commitments at any time is to be monitored.

You are right to point out that the settlement of claims is strongly regulated by legal deadlines, and this regulation continues to be implemented in order to respond effectively to the expectations of policyholders and beneficiaries of insurance contracts.

The resulting observation is that the legal system is not in question, quite the contrary. It is therefore in its application and in its supervision that the difficulties associated with the settlement of claims should certainly be sought.

It should already be remembered that the legislator CIMA had adopted in 2011 a highly welcomed reform, which sanctioned the prohibition of insurance on credit and therefore the payment of the insurance premium by the insured upon subscription of the contract.

This reform, which has helped to significantly improve the cash flow of insurance companies by reducing premium arrears by the same amount, was to be accompanied by increased diligence in the payment of claims.

It is therefore up to the control authority to ensure that the relevant provisions are applied, and the action of the insurance department, as well as of the CIMA control brigade, has recently been much oriented towards claims control in insurance companies.

This control will remain a top priority in our action plan in order to succeed, not only in respecting the provisions on payment deadlines, but above all in reducing the lack of image and notoriety from which the sector suffers, particularly in the car insurance which crystallizes all the recriminations vis-à-vis the insurance.

Regarding the prospects you mention, one can think first and foremost of oil and gas insurance with the promising discoveries of its last years in our country.

These oil and gas risks are characterized by the volume of very high insurance premiums they generate, in relation to the scale of investments in this area.

By bringing into play all the insurance mechanisms made available to them by the regulations, I want to think of local co-insurance but also of reinsurance within the framework of the CIMA zone, our Insurers should be able to capture a not insignificant part of these premiums from oil and gas risks, which will enable them to play more of the role expected of them, and to better contribute to the financing of the economy.

Still in terms of outlook, recent events, with the health crisis and its multiple impacts on economic activity, show that a strategy to broaden the scope of insurable activities must be able to be developed by the players.

This strategy could be correlated with development policies after COVID 19, and I want to think mainly of the insurance of the informal sector but also of the agricultural sector which already has significant experience in this area, with the initiative of the Compagnie National Agricultural Insurance of Senegal (CNAAS).

There is also reason to think about more inclusive health insurance for the Senegalese population, in particular through health microinsurance, which could accompany the public policy of universal health coverage.