2020 was an unusual year all around.

At Promutuel Assurances, it was doubly so: The insurer sustained a cyberattack at the end of the year.

Even so, the Quebec-based insurer increased its profit at year-end 2020. It is also on track to achieve its 2021 objectives, CEO Geneviève Fortier told Insurance Portal.

“2020 was an unusual year that allowed us to achieve exceptional results. All of our indicators are now in positive territory,” she says.

The insurer ended 2020 with $1.8 billion in assets. Premium volume was $950 million. Its net income was $138.2 million in 2020.

Even before Quebec entered a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 year was well on its way to cementing profitability, Fortier explains. “Mother Nature was on our side. Quebecers also travelled less. That had a positive impact on our claims experience.”

Promutuel wants to increase its presence in Quebec, Fortier adds. Although her company is the fourth largest property and casualty insurer in the province, its market share is only 8 per cent. “We have room to grow. We believe that our proximity with our insured members is a distinctive element that allows us to meet their needs well, regardless of the channel they use: agents, brokers or the Web," she says.

Promutuel still generates nearly 75 per cent of its volume from direct distribution and nearly 25 per cent from brokerage. The Web has a small and growing share, she says.

Back to cruising speed

Calling the mid-December cyberattack a blip, Fortier says the insurer has been focussing on relations with its existing members. As a result, the early 2021 customer retention scores were the highest in three years.

Granted, the insurer saw a slowdown in new business, but that was then, she says. “Operations rebounded in mid-February, and we're back up to speed.”

The CEO is confident that the mutual will meet its 2021 targets. "We are concentrating on our profitable growth plan. We are on track to meet our year-end targets," she mentions.

Survey completed

Although Fortier declined to specify the targets, she did tell Insurance Portal that Promutuel has completed its investigation into the causes of the cyberattack it suffered. Validations are still in progress. However, she is complying with a request by the police asked her not to disclose any information about the event.

The investigation also determined how the hackers infiltrated the company’s systems: The attack originated externally, through ransomware. The possibility of an internal threat, as was the case at Desjardins Group, has been ruled out.

"The key to dealing with this type of threat is to be prepared. With that in mind, we launched protection for SMEs against cyber risk before we were attacked. Our commitment to protecting our customers' and employees' data continues," she says.

Fortier says that she learned a lot from this incident, but emphasizes that each case is unique and that other financial institutions’ experiences do not apply to Promutuel.
“Our teams worked very hard to restart operations effectively. Yes, we had to do it quickly, but we also had to do it right. From the outside, it may have seemed like a long process. But for us, it was a 24/7 job, including Christmas and New Year's Day. We also had the support of our employees and our 16 mutuals, including their administrators,” she explains.

Industry consultation

During this crisis,. Fortier told Insurance Portal that she turned to colleagues working for competitors for support.

"Cybercrime has become a common enemy. We can all benefit from sharing our lessons and learnings. There are obviously things that are confidential to each organization, but if we can share learnings others, we should. I have benefited from it and shared things as well. That’s a good thing. It will help us to unite against the cyber hackers who work 24/7. We've had great cooperation from the industry, particularly brokers,” she says.

In crises like these, there is risk of sharing information that is not verified and corroborated. Engaging in speculation can be a trap, she warns.

"Throughout this hiatus, we wanted to send a clear message. We made an effort to communicate with our 650,000 insured members on a regular basis. We also strove to give the brokerage channel answers to their questions,” she says.

Walloped by one crisis after another

Every corporate CEO has had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Far fewer have grappled with a cyberattack at the same time. Which one is worse?

Fortier ponders the question for a while, pointing out that each situation has different lessons to offer.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the agility of her teams: The company's 2,000 employees reorganized within two and a half weeks to implement remote work. "The contributions and commitment of our various teams, particularly IT, human resources and field teams, allowed us to smoothly transition to a new operating mode.”

As for the cyberattack, it allowed the mutual to re-anchor itself in its values, Fortier explains, particularly that of mutual aid and solidarity. "We had an unparalleled level of commitment from our teams to take the right steps. In the end, both events had an impact. It gives us a lot of confidence going forward. It's all well and good to have ambitious growth goals, but you need the right teams to deliver them," she says.

When the pandemic was declared, Promutuel happened to be setting its digital shift in motion. During the health crisis, the insured members thus discovered how easy it could be to deal with the mutual insurance company via its technological tools,.Fortier explains.

“We see it in every industry, including in insurance. It's a strident signal that we need to accelerate the digital shift,” she says.

Neither the pandemic nor the cyberattack hindered Promutuel's digital projects very much, the CEO continues. “We took advantage of these breaks to resequence our projects, based on the needs of our insured members. An organization like ours must be dynamic and modern, but also know how to adapt. Our size gives us agility compared with larger players. Our boat is easier to turn,” she says.

Crisis tips

A year and a half into her sojourn, what advice does. the Promutuel CEO have for business leaders who, like her, are facing a series of crises upon taking office?

Surrounding yourself with a competent team is the most important thing, she says.

“That's what makes the difference in crisis management. Everyone has to understand what they need to do to deliver the game plan. As a CEO, you have to listen in order to choose the right directions. To do that, you have to put the players in the right roles. You have to be able to inspire and energize your teams. Above all, that means listening,” Fortier explains.

In fact, she believes that listening to what was being said on the ground was key to getting through the cyberattack in mid-December. "When you go through something like this, the field has a lot to tell you. You have to know what's emerging from the field. You have to be able to work with the teams, listen to them, and then lead them. Because the engine for all of this is the strength of the team," says Fortier.

For the future, she hopes that Promutuel will play an active role in the economic recovery that will follow Quebec's reopening. "We see the light at the end of the tunnel. Promutuel is well established in every community in Quebec. I am extremely positive that Quebec will do well. As an organization, we are very well positioned to succeed in our profitable growth plan and contribute to Quebec's economic growth," she says.