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On 25 January, the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali terminated its employment contract with Alberto Minali and appointed Luigi Lubelli as Group CFO, who also joined the Group Management Committee. It also decided that the Investments Committee would expand its responsibilities to strategically relevant operations, so its name was changed to the Investments and Strategic Operations Committee.
Marco Sesana, Country Manager of Italy, and Timothy Ryan, incoming Group Chief Investment Officer, became members of the Group Management Committee.
On 23 January, Assicurazioni Generali communicated that it had acquired voting rights on 505 million shares of Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., equal to 3.01% of the share capital, through a securities lending transaction.
Generali Finance B.V. exercised the early redemption option on the perpetual subordinated bond on 8 February for an amount totalling € 869 million. This debt had already been refinanced through the subordinated bond, concluded on 8 June 2016, for an overall amount of € 850 million, targeting institutional investors.
On 15 March, the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali approved the appointment of Aldo Mazzocco as the new CEO and General Manager of Generali Real Estate; he became a member of the Board of Directors of Generali Real Estate in June.
The new Charter of Sustainability Commitments of the Group was approved by the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali. This document outlines the position of Generali with respect to sustainability as well as its commitments to stakeholders.
www.generali.com/it/our-responsibilities/responsible-business/charter_sustainability_commitments-
EOn 20 April, Assicurazioni Generali completed the share capital increase in execution of the Long Term Incentive Plan approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting of the Company on 30 April 2014. The share capital of Assicurazioni Generali, fully subscribed and paid up, is subdivided into 1,561,808,262 ordinary shares of € 1 each (par value).
On 26 April - and following Fitch’s recent downgrade of Italy’s sovereign rating to 'BBB' from 'BBB+', with Stable Outlook - the agency announced that it has affirmed Generali’s and its subsidiaries' IFS ratings at A-. The Outlooks are Stable. Fitch explained that the ratings are two notches higher than Italy’s sovereign rating (BBB/Stable), “in recognition of Generali’s resilient capital position and strong geographical diversification (with around 60% of operating result from outside Italy), including significant operations in France and Germany with strong market positions”.
On 27 April, the ordinary and extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Assicurazioni Generali appointed the Board of Statutory Auditors for the three-year period 2017-2019, electing Carolyn Dittmeier (Chairwoman), Lorenzo Pozza and Antonia Di Bella as auditors and Francesco Di Carlo and Silvia Olivotto as substitute auditors. The members of the Board of Statutory Auditors declared that they met the conditions of professionalism, respectability and independence.
The new strategy for the Asset Management division was announced on 11 May. The objective is to address the needs of insurance companies and individuals in a low interest rate environment and supporting Generali’s shift towards a greater contribution from fee-based business. The new Asset Management strategy is based on two pillars: broadening the investment capabilities and offering bespoke investment solutions to European companies and savings products to individual clients. This division will broaden investment capabilities and enlarge product offering to reach € 500 billion of assets under management by 2020.
On 30 May, Assicurazioni Generali sold 510 million ordinary shares of Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., amounting to 3.04% of the share capital, and which had been acquired in January. At the same time, Generali ended the collateralized derivative transaction, settled on 17 February, in order to fully hedge the economic risk related to the acquisition of these shares. The Generali Group maintains a marginal exposure to Intesa Sanpaolo shares as an ordinary financial investment.Effective as of 1 June, Jean-Laurent Granier joined the Generali Group as Country Manager and Président Directeur Général (PDG) of Generali France. He also joined the Group Management Committee. Eric Lombard resigned from the Group.
Generali returned to the Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) market with a € 200 million catastrophe bond on floods and windstorms in Europe and earthquakes in Italy, through a reinsurance agreement with Lion II Re DAC, an Irish special purpose company, providing per occurrence cover in respect to any mentioned events which occur to the Generali Group over a four-year period. The Lion II Re transaction transfers part of these risk to the bond investors allowing for a more optimized protection for the Group against catastrophes.
On 19 July, an agreement was signed for the transfer of the shareholding in the Colombian companies*, equivalent to 91.3% of Generali Seguros and to 93.3% of Generali Vida. The operation is subject to approval from the competent authorities. The sale of the shareholding in the Guatemala subsidiary* was also completed.
* The operation is part of the Group's strategy to optimize its geographic presence as well as improve operational efficiency and the allocation of capital.
On 1 August, the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali appointed Nora Gürtler as Head of Group Audit as from 1 October.
On 7 August, an agreement for the sale of its assets in Panama* was undersigned. The operation is subject to approval from the competent authorities.
* The operation is part of the Group's strategy to optimize its geographic presence as well as improve operational efficiency and the allocation of capital.
On 13 September, an agreement for the transfer of the entire shareholding in Generali Nederland N.V.* was undersigned with an initial compensation of € 143 million, subject to adjustment on the closing date of the operation as well as approval, inter alia, from the competent authorities. The operation was completed in February 2018.
On 28 September, the subsequent phase of industrial transformation of Generali Deutschland was initiated in order to strengthen operational performance and increase value creation in the long term.
* The operation is part of the Group's strategy to optimize its geographic presence as well as improve operational efficiency and the allocation of capital.
On 18 October, the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali deliberated in favour of the entry - within the Group Management Committee - of Isabelle Conner, Group Chief Marketing & Customer Officer, and of Monica Alessandra Possa, Group Chief HR & Organization Officer; it also deliberated in favour of the mutually agreed resignation of Valter Trevisani, Group Chief Insurance Officer.
The Human Safety Net, a new Group initiative for the community, was launched.
In Paris, the Argus de l’Assurance digitale award within the "Best mobile strategy" category was received for the Mobile Hub product, a mobile app launched internationally and known in France as Mon Generali. The award, assigned by one of the most prestigious specialized magazines, L’Argus de l’Assurance, is in recognition of the Group's commitment to realize its strategic plan with an increasingly digital and innovative approach which will render Generali simpler, smarter, faster.
On 18 December, an agreement for the transfer of the entire shareholding in Generali PanEurope* was undersigned with an initial compensation of € 230 million, subject to adjustment on the closing date of the operation. The operation is subordinate, inter alia, to approval from the competent authorities and its completion is expected within the first half of 2018.
An agreement for the transfer of the run off P&C portfolio of the British subsidiary was signed on 19 December.
The Board of Directors approved the creation of a new position, the Group Chief Operations & Insurance Officer, effective as of 1 January 2018. The responsibility for this function - which integrates the activities of the Operations division with those of the Insurance Officer, in addition to directly reporting to the Group CEO - has been entrusted to Jaime Anchustegui Melgarejo, previously manager of the EMEA division; he will therefore become a member of the Group Management Committee.