The next 12 months will see no growth in commercial lines, according to Groupama UK chief executive Francois Xavier-Boisseau.

In a wide-ranging joint Insurance Times interview with his managing director Laurent Matras, he said: “You have a depressed environment with plenty of overcapacity - 0% is probably optimistic. The pie is at best stable and probably it will get smaller.”

Things are unlikely to improve much until 2013, he adds.

Boisseau also casts doubt on the bold growth targets recently announced by competitors, such as AXA, which has set the goal of increasing its commercial lines revenues from £800m to £1.2bn by 2015.

He said: “I can’t comment about others but from where I am sitting, I can’t see how you can combine growth and profitability.”

Click here to read the full interview with the Groupama bosses.