By moving towards new distribution methods, France stands out from its neighbors, who continue to operate through one or two main channels:
- general agents in Italy, Germany and Spain,
- brokers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands,
- general agents and brokers in Belgium.
Evolution in distribution channels for life and health insurance in France
Very active in the life and health insurance market [4], banks have been the leading distribution network for life insurance products since 1995, with a market share of nearly 55%. This share reached 61% in 2010 and 64% in 2019. In 1991, bancassurance accounted for only 40% of premium income.
Faced with the breakthrough of the bancassurance network, the other distribution channels, mainly brokers and general agents, continue to lose market share.
France: evolution in distribution channels for property and casualty insurance
In non-life insurance [5], the growth of direct sales through mutual companies and companies without intermediaries has been achieved at the expense of general agents and brokers. The market share of these traditional networks has fallen from 64% (46% for general agents and 18% for brokers) in 1991 to 54.8% in 2010 and 52% in 2019.
Another important development in recent years is that banks have been able to significantly penetrate mass-market risks. Sales through bank counters and other financial institutions, which were almost non-existent in 1991 (less than 1%), now account for more than 15% of the property and casualty market.
