Covéa Insurance extends strategic plan to 2028 as De Macedo prepares to hand over UK reins

Covéa Insurance, the UK arm of Paris-headquartered Covéa Group, has extended its three-year strategic plan – entitled ‘Doing what really matters’ – to run until 2028, transforming the plan’s tenure to a five-year stretch and providing “continuity” during the insurer’s chief executive transition, according to outgoing UK leader Georges De Macedo.

De Macedo introduced the five pillar ‘Doing what really matters’ strategy in December 2023, with an original three-year timeline. The primary focus of the plan was to drive profitability after year-on-year combined operating ratios consistently remained in loss-making territory since 2018.

Alongside this profitability ambition, De Macedo’s initial strategy focused on developing broker relationships, tapping into technology better, an increased awareness of environmental, social and governance factors and investing in talent.

Although De Macedo told Insurance Times that the strategy’s extension is “a strong message” from Covéa Group that the UK’s approach is delivering positive results, he also acknowledged that the move “ensures some continuity” as he prepares to leave the UK business and return to his native France.

Last month (September 2025), Covéa Insurance confirmed that De Macedo would be stepping down from the UK arm’s leadership – he has been replaced by business development expert Xavier Laurent.

While waiting for the regulatory approvals to rubber stamp Laurent’s appointment, the two Frenchman are undertaking a three-month handover period until the end of the year, with Covéa Insurance expecting Laurent to assume full control come January 2026.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times about the strategy extension, De Macedo said: “This is evidence that our strategy is working. This strategy is very clear to everybody. Everybody understands it and is supportive.

“This is really a strong message. It’s not just a question of extension and so this ensures some continuity. [That] doesn’t mean [the strategy] will be static. It’s a constant evolution.”

Strategy 2.0

Although the groundwork and foundations of the ‘Doing what really matters’ strategy remain in place for the next three years, De Macedo confirmed that under Laurent’s leadership, the plan will enter a “different phase” from 2026 – for example, the leadership duo will be presenting new focus areas for the UK business to Covéa’s board in December 2025.

At the time of writing, De Macedo cannot reveal in detail the “five strategic domains where we want to invest and develop” ahead of the internal board meeting – however he does dangle one strategic carrot by mentioning that prevention will be a key focus for the firm in the years ahead.

He explained: “Prevention is one area where we want to be better because we believe that this is a win-win. It’s a way to share with our partners [and] customers our experience because we deal with claims every day and we have a lot of data points. We can advise and we believe that this is part of our product offering and service that we can provide.

“If we can prevent or reduce the impact of a claim or an event, this will be beneficial for everybody – for the policyholder because it’s good to have insurance that pays for the damage, but if you can avoid the damage, it’s even better for [them] and for us.”

De Macedo described the next phase of ‘Doing what really matters’ as Covéa Insurance being able to “leverage our potential”.

He continued: “The strategy is consistent, but we know that we have to follow an evolutionary transformation of Covéa and we are in this process.

“The next phase, which is leverage our potential, is to really develop our core business because we have now set the foundations to be able to develop this business in a more efficient way, still with a strong focus on profitability, and we know also with the headwinds in the market that if we want to remain a credible insurer, we have to get better and to fight. It’s a constant fight in the market.

“We see some challenges and we have to resolve this equation to make sure that we invest in the right areas and we maintain the right level of profitability.”

The “fight” that Covéa Insurance is currently squaring up to is the soft market, which ramps up competition between insurers as supply outweighs demand in certain lines of business.

Profit and loss

But – as De Macedo prepares to hand over Covéa Insurance’s reins – has he been able to achieve his strategic North Star of obtaining profitability for the UK business during his tenure to date, which started in June 2023?

According to market intelligence firm Insurance DataLab, the results here are mixed.

In 2025’s Top 50 Insurers report – published in October 2025 by Insurance Times in conjunction with Insurance DataLab – Covéa Insurance fell 12 places in the overall ranking to 49 due to a 10% year-on-year drop in gross written premium to £642m. This is the penultimate spot in the annual list.

However, over the same reporting period, the insurer’s combined operating ratio vastly improved – this moved from 195.4% in 2024’s report to 96.9% for 2025, finally dipping under 100% and into profitable territory.

This report followed Covéa Insurance publishing its 2024 full-year financial results in April 2025, which confirmed a £32.9m profit for last year compared with an £87.3m loss at the end of 2023.

A ‘difficult decision’ and continued focus on family

These financial results indicate that De Macedo has been a pivotal captain at Covéa Insurance’s helm so far, with momentum only just beginning to turn in the Frenchman’s favour – but with plenty still to be accomplished left on the profit and loss table.

And although De Macedo speaks with some sadness and reluctance about exiting the UK business, his decision-making is firmly motivated by one reason and one reason only – his family.

The leader’s decision to return to France is in support of his wife resuming her healthcare career at a local hospital, as well as securing a particular school spot for his eldest son.

The father of two added: “It was a difficult decision, but we have to define priorities and family was always important for me.”

De Macedo is not completely exiting the Covéa fold, however. The next three months will see him commute between France and the UK to do a full handover with Laurent, so day to day, he is “still 100% dedicated to the UK business”.

Come 2026, however, De Macedo will instead revert to simply sitting on Covéa Insurance’s board. “My future role at group will be decided and communicated later this year, but for the moment, it is not the priority,” he said.

In terms of the achievement he is most proud of during his stint as Covéa Insurance chief executive, De Macedo highlighted “the people aspect and the current dynamic and team spirit that we have at Covea Insurance” because this “was a key success factor in what we have achieved” so far, as well as “the guarantee to continue to succeed in the future”.

He noted: “My role was never to be the hero in the UK, but really to help this team to work together, bring what I can bring to this team, to reveal some talents and just help them to say ‘ok let’s do it’. And this has been successful.

“We have to be very mindful [of] what is important for the company – a clear strategy, collective mindset, a team, strong governance regarding the decisions that we make. All these are very important. We have this in place now.”