SCOR SE (SCR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning, and welcome. I'm very happy to welcome you here to this new SCOR General Shareholders' Meeting that I am presiding over for the first time. Before officially opening this session, I would like just to pause a moment and think of my emblematic predecessor, Denis Kessler, who was at my place as Chairman of SCOR for more than 20 years, who shaped the history of the group and its success and to pro-posted it amongst the top worldwide reinsurers. I think that I speak on behalf of everybody to say that we are extremely grateful to him, and I would like to warmly remember his legacy of thoroughness and excellence that we are doing the best we can to preserve. During this first year as Chairman of the Board, I have been able to measure the importance of this job even more so than before. It is very complex by its nature, but it is vital to the resilience of any companies. I'm very proud today to be at the head of a dynamic group with a solid foundation, which is fully doing its essential role as a manager of risk. Shareholders today, we are here for a privileged moment our shareholders' general meeting. I would like to thank you for your presence and for many of you who have been present for years, you have always been a precious support for group. This general assembly is a highlight of the year where you will be able to speak with the members of management and the members of the Board. Next to me, I have Thierry Lger, who is the CEO of SCOR for a little over a year now. He will tell you about the strategic perspectives, the strategic forecasts of the group. And I also have Claire Le Gall-Robinson, who is the General Secretary of the group. I also have the great pleasure of having in the very first row here, the members of the Board, who will be talking to you about the work they have done. And I would like to seize this opportunity to turn to them and to give them my warm thanks for the very active way in which they help in the functioning and the development of SCOR. They are essential players for the debates that we have, they support me, and it means that our group is more efficient and has an excellent governance. So without any further ado, let's move on now to the opening formalities. As the Chairman of this General Assembly, I would like to officially declare this session open. We will now inform the bureau, the 2 shareholders present to have the greatest number of votes and who have accepted to be tellers, I would like to thank them. Covea, represented by Mr. [indiscernible] and Amber Capital represented by Mr. Olivier Fortesa I would like to suggest to the tellers that we suggest as Secretary of the Assembly, Mrs. Claire Le Gall-Robinson. This debate is being recorded, and I would also like to say that amongst those who are not shareholders here, some journalists today, for example, that this is a public meeting. I would also like to tell you that we have a bailiff that has been hired today by the company. We would like to thank you all for being here in such great numbers. And it is good that we are here in this auditorium. There is not enough room in the auditorium. So we -- there are -- there's also a possibility to listen to proceedings in another room. Today, we have -- 71.34% of shareholders are represented or present, 128,000,767 shares from 280 shareholders. We will inform you of the final quorum before the voting on the resolution. We will be dealing with resolutions, the ordinary resolutions, first of all, 1 to 18 and then the extraordinary resolutions from 19 to 33. For the ordinary part of the meeting, 1/5 of the shares have a right to vote. And for the extraordinary ones, 1/4 of the shares have a right to vote. The rules of adopting of the resolutions for the ordinary part of the resolutions is they will be voted on by a simple majority. And for the extraordinary resolutions, 2/3 of the shareholders present or represented will suffice. The shareholders present or represented, of course, represent more than 1/4 of this. So our assembly can deliberate on the ordinary resolutions and the extraordinary resolutions, so I declare this general assembly, therefore, fit to vote. The shareholders have received the invitation to today, the combined general meeting brochure. Thank you very much. We'd like to inform you that all of the documents, as stipulated by the law are available here on the table, you have the combined general meetings brochure. You have the invitation where you may also find the resolutions, ordinary and extraordinary resolutions. You have the universal registration document where there are the consolidated and the ordinary accounts of the company as well as the group's activity report. The reports and the certifications of the statutory auditors and other documents that have been -- have also been made available to the shareholders in accordance with articles in the code of commerce. Perhaps before Thierry Lger gets back in the detail to the strategic perspectives for the group, I would like to tell you a little bit about my vision for SCOR and the -- where we are at the end of my first year of Chairman of the Board. Resilience for us is the incarnation of the reinsurance sector, and it is at the very heart of risk management. This risk universe, such as we see it today, is continually changing and continually expanding. This is something that we are seeing on a day-to-day basis. We're seeing that the risks are multiplying and they are intensifying there are geopolitical tensions, but also climate change, cyber risks or the aging of the population, all of these are very complex challenges for today's contemporary companies. In this environment, which is prey to structural changes, but which still benefits today from favorable market conditions, I think that SCOR's debt is more and more topical today. And that is my conviction. And I reaffirm that conviction after 1 year as Chairman of the a Board of the sixth largest worldwide reinsurer. SCOR plays a role in our society. We know how to manage our know-how of risk management, risk control. We are always making sure that we are capable of absorbing risks. And that is the -- at the very heart of what we do. We have to be able to combine the art and the science of risk so that we can deploy the potential of value creation for all of our stakeholders, while protecting companies and enlarging the extent of cover of insurance. Faced with our challenges, I think that SCOR can count on a stable and strong governance. This is very clear. We have a governance that works well. Among proofs of that is that the replacement of the Chairman of the Board in June 2023 after the passing of Denis Kessler and then the building of a new strategic plan between the Board and general management, and Thierry Lger and myself had only just taken up our new functions just a few months prior. This phase of changing governance is now behind us. We have very serenely launched into a new chapter of SCOR's history. Governance -- dissociated governance is now aiming at achieving the strategic ambitions of the group and its performance. The working relations between Thierry and myself are, if I might say so, myself, excellent. And I think that the Board can bear witness to that. And it's largely thanks to the mutual trust between us. We are regularly exchanging information, and we work in full transparency. Each of us works within our own perimeters. We are all trying to -- we are both trying to align ourselves strategically. And the way in which we function, hopefully, will bring about a healthy and prudent management of the group. This governance is applied with great rigor, but it is also thanks to the Board members who are so involved in debates and to give over a large amount of their energy to the carrying out of their mandates. I would like to warmly thank all of the chairs of the committees that I count on so much who have a considerable amount of work to do, and therefore, who are bearing de facto, very large responsibility. Thank you to you all. The SCOR's new strategic plan, Forward 2026, is a plan that is clear. It is simple. It is easily understandable, and it is the result of the combined efforts of the Board and general management. It has been warmly welcomed by the market, and it should be able to increase our value creation in the future. We want to enhance SCOR's resilience and guarantee that SCOR attains good performance up until the end of 2026. There are also two objectives that are highlighted in this plan: a financial objective with a growth of economic value expected at 9% per year with a return on equity greater than 12%; and the second point is also fundamental for an activity such as ours, and that is to reach a solvency ratio, which will have somewhere between 185% and 220%. We consider that to be the optimum range. Forward 2026 is also composed of key fundamentals that will allow us to achieve it. First of all, diversification, a key word for us. Diversification is our strength. This diversification will enable us to mutualize risks worldwide. And it's a very important lever for our activity. Our intention is to continue the diversification of our risk portfolio without undermining the global balance of our reinsurance activities, be it in life reinsurance or property or liability. Mastering risk is the next strong prerogative. As a reinsurance group, one that is independent and worldwide, SCOR has a very large, very good quality range throughout the world, the expertise and the know-how of the group are one of our great levers. Our employees incarnate this approach of excellence trying to bring our services and offer services that are of extremely high quality. We play a society role as a risk regulator. The major risks and catastrophes today are the raw material of our business. And there, again, we fully master the art and the science. Let me talk about now about something that is important. And that is granting value, valorizing data. During the strategic plan, SCOR is going to strengthen its global leadership to become a risk manager, a capital manager, a dynamic resource manager fully focused on data. Data is the name of the game in our business. We must be able to improve the way we use data so that we can better carry out capital allocation and achieve a better performance. And last but not least, SCOR is also putting sustainable development at the heart of its strategy. For more than 20 years, [august now], we have been involved in the anti-climate change issues as well as sustainable development. The -- what we are doing with our policies today are also guided by a lot of different initiatives and international standards and the factoring in of social, environmental and governance elements that are at stake. It's that is an integral part of our governance system under the supervision of the Board. And with the contribution of specialized committees, we are rolling out strategic plans and action plans concerning ESG. We'll come back and talk about that in just a moment. The environmental and social commitment of SCOR is also visible by the very strong support that it brings to science, to innovation, to teaching and to research of new risks. The group is doing the best it can to share know-how on the main risks that are threatening the world. SCOR is financing scientific projects either directly, thanks to the science foundation, or indirectly by investing permanently in the understanding and the modeling of risks. I'll let Thierry Lger come back in more detail over the main ideas in our strategic plan. But -- and I will now move on to something that I think is going to completely concern you and that is the performance that our group has achieved. So very quickly, the favorable perspectives -- the favorable forecast of our strategic plan have already come to light in 2023. Of course, we've been able to [coast] on the favorable market conditions. You can see that SCOR has net results of EUR 812 million in 2023. And this shows that we truly occupy a strategic position. Solidity and resilience of our balance sheet can also be illustrated by -- as you can see here, by solvency ratio of 215%. And we will be able to base ourselves on that to enhance our resilience. So we are performant and we are resilient. This performance allows us to believe in the future, allows us to put before this general assembly to ask for your approval of a dividend of EUR 1.80 per share for 2023 and that will be one of the resolutions that you will be voting on later this morning. We also have introduced a new capital management policy, which I hope is going to be more attractive for you, shareholders. It is one that gives pride of place to the cash share payouts. It -- there may also be special dividends or share buybacks. But once we have taken into account our solvency ratio, once we have analyzed our economic performance, looking at the company's economic value, we will be defining the dividends of future years with one thing that I believe is fundamental, and that is that next year's dividend will be at least equal to this year's, that is EUR 1.80 subject, of course, to the approval of each general assembly. This, I think, is something that is new, and it confirms the way in which the Board and SCOR's management believes that the resilience of the company will continue. By way of conclusion, conditions today are such that SCOR can roll out its strategic plan Forward 2026. Market forecasts are very favorable. We are in a dynamic environmental opportunistic market for SCOR. We have very solid fundamentals at SCOR. Our portfolio is well diversified, which is a great advantage that we're going to continue to capitalize on. Intending to maintain a portfolio that is balanced, not just in line of business, but also geographically. And lastly, our governance, as you can see, is doing well. The committees are working hard. The management teams have a strong leader in front of them with all of the qualities and the necessary skills to help us achieve our ambitions. This makes me particularly convinced that in SCOR's future and convinced that we will be able to deliver our performance until the end of 2026. And I'd now like to give the floor to Thierry Lger. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, Fabrice. Very good morning to you all, dear shareholders. I'm very pleased to be with you at this shareholder's meeting 1 year after taking my duties as CEO of SCOR. I'm going to this morning present in detail the performance of our company in 2023 and provide you with an update on the major transformation initiatives that we have undertaken, and we will continue in 2024. I'd like to begin by expressing my pride at being at the head of such a fine company. Over the past year, I've reached out and met with all those who every day devote their expertise and professionalism to the service of SCOR's success. Wherever I went, I was struck by the energy and the commitment of our people and their wish to contribute to the achievement of our objectives. And I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking them warmly here. This first year was also for me an opportunity to deepen the relationship with our clients and to listen to what they have to say on numerous exchanges, confirm my initial perception that I shared with you last year. SCOR benefits from a leading franchise recognized by our clients worldwide, thanks to the relations of confidence built over time. This partnership approach is close to my heart. It is really the focus of my vision for SCOR that I'll develop in a moment. I'd like to return to the group's performance in 2023 by highlighting the points that make us fully confident in our ability to achieve the objectives of our new strategic plan Forward 2026. Now last year, in 2023, as Fabrice said, we achieved a net record profit of EUR 812 million, driven by each of our businesses, P&C, Life & Health and Investment. This return to profitability after a year 2022, that was particularly challenging shows that the actions aimed at rebalancing our risk portfolio are bearing fruit and illustrates the relevance of our business model based on the balance between the activities, the business lines and geographies. In P&C reinsurance, our combined ratio that measures the ratio but win the amount of compensation for claims paid out and the amount of earned premium stands at 85%. This demonstrates the improved underlying profitability of our P&C business. In Life & Health Reinsurance, the result of insurance activity reached EUR 589 million, above the assumption that we've set ourselves. Lastly, Investment continued to generate favorable result with a yield of 3.2%. This very strong performance led to an excellent return on equity of 18.1%, significantly higher than the target of 12% that we set for 2023 and also higher than previous years. In 2023, we exceeded o ur financial target of value creation measured through the economic value of the group, which corresponds to the value of the SCOR franchise and its portfolio that to say the sum of shareholders' equity and expected future profits. Thus, in 2023, the economic value of SCOR increased by 8.6%, reaching EUR 9.2 billion against a growth target that we've set ourselves at 8.1%. Now this increase is all the more remarkable because it's driven by a strong increase in shareholders' equity of some 21%. A word on the growth of our premier. Over a period of 10 years, as you can see on this chart, the total amount of gross written premiums doubled going from EUR 10 billion to close on EUR 20 billion in 2023. This sustained growth is driven both by our P&C business as well as by our Life & Health business. The chart also illustrates the strategic revamping of our Non-Life portfolio undertaken during the renewals of January 2023. On the balance sheet front, the solvency ratio in 2023 reached 209%. Once again, the higher of the optimum range between 185% and 220%. Our solvency level confirms the strength of our balance sheet, and therefore, our ability to absorb all types of shocks. And this result was obtained in spite of the earthquakes that struck Turkey, hailstorms in Italy, hailstones of some 19 centimeters. So that truly is an event beyond our expectation. Fires in Hawaii and the Otis Hurricane in the United States, thus, we guarantee financial strength to our clients. After a period marked as we recall a low contribution of the technical result from underwriting, as you can see in the chart, against a backdrop of major catastrophic events and the repercussions of COVID-19, we're seeing in 2023 a significant shift. The two fundamental pillars of the group, technical and financial are once again delivering the operational and financial performance for the group. In 2023, our performance -- technical performance reached new records, the levels are also higher than those before 2016. In terms of financial investment, we've crossed a major milestone. The contribution of financial investments to our recurring earnings are now higher and more regular. We continue to benefit from high reinvestment rates. This combined momentum of technical and financial results that are robust is set to continue in the future. As was mentioned last September, we unveiled our ambitious strategic plan Forward 2026 that runs from 2024 through 2026. This plan is a road map that is there to leverage a buoyant environment and to mobilize our distinctive assets to achieve an annual increase of the economic value of 9% a year. In parallel, we're going to adjust the group's business model to prepare the future. SCOR will transform to adapt to a risk landscape that is constantly changing by becoming a risk management as well as managing capital and resources that are more dynamic, flexible and data-driven ready to take up the challenges of tomorrow. We seek to allocate our capital dynamically and strategically at the same time in order to capture on the one hand, the commercial opportunities that arise whilst improving our diversification. We're currently in a virtuous phase, allowing us not only to extend our diversification but also to increase our profitability. At last year's shareholders' meeting, I stressed the fact that we'd entered a phase that was very favorable to reinsurers. The current environment is the most attractive of the last 20 years. And this positive phase is continuing as Fabrice set out earlier. In Property & Casualty, demand exceeded supply at the end of 2022. The hard market marked by pricing increases and improved terms and conditions is continuing as demonstrated by pricing changes during the last renewals shown on the chart top left, and these are market data against this backdrop. A better balance between supply and demand was seen in 2024. Indeed, thanks to a marked improvement on return on equity, traditional reinsurers, such as SCOR have invested more capital to meet demand. On the asset side, rising interest rates and consequently, reinvestment rates has significantly increased the financial contribution of investment to reinsurers and to SCOR. So the environment is promising for opportunities to create value, but also requires an adjustment of products and heightened resilience on the part of reinsurance. For SCOR, this favorable environment was clear during the renewals of January and April this year with growth in our Property & Casualty business on our target lines in keeping with the Forward '26 plan. We delivered strong growth in Engineering, in Marine, in inherent defects liability and Casualty, Internationally by diversifying our portfolio and by constantly seeking improved technical profitability. We also accelerated our development of alternative solutions by leveraging the strong demand for bespoke solutions. At the beginning of this year, we've already doubled our premium income in this field. I'm very satisfied to see that SCOR continues to improve the quality and technical profitability of its Non-Life, but a year after the 2023 renewals that already took place in a very promising context. SCOR continues to maintain disciplined underwriting, both in terms of pricing as well as terms and conditions. During the first quarter of 2024, which is also the first quarter of our strategic plan Forward, '26. SCOR is generating strong net profit of EUR 196 million. These results lead to an excellent return on annualized equity reaching 17.3% over the quarter. Our strong performance in Q1 is driven by our P&C business as well as investment, whereas our Life & Health business is experiencing measure of volatility. These good results achieved in Q1 have allowed us to constitute margins of prudence in our provisions. We've generated significant amount of capital in the first quarter, thanks to the profitability of our Non-Life books. This led to an increase in the solvency ratio of 6 points coming in at 215% as well as an increase of 4.1% of the group's economic value. This really is a very good start to the year 2024 against this promising backdrop sustained by the demand from cedents and market discipline. SCOR expects a continued favorable backdrop for the renewals of July as well as in June, and we're taking advantage of this strong position to transform SCOR and to turn it into a more dynamic and more adaptable group at every level. That's the purpose of the cultural transformation of the group that we've set in hand. The first transformation initiative concerns the revamping of corporate values. There's nothing cosmetic to that. It's key to my mind. These values are encompassed to guide our decisions and the actions of each and everyone at every level of the organization. Our values stem from a consultation with all our people. Care, which in French, could be translated by [indiscernible] if it goes beyond that, integrity, courage, open minds and collaboration. I attach great importance in ensuring that these values are embodied in our individual and collective behavior. They now account for 50% of employee's bonus as of 2024. Let's take a look at this film that we've prepared to present our new values. [Presentation]

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our communications teams who I find always prepare absolutely wonderful videos. So second initiative that we've begun earlier this year, it's adapting our organization in order to make it simpler and more efficient. We've scrapped intermediate management, Echelon, to accelerate decision-making and bring it closer to the front line. We put an end to the Matrix [indiscernible] organization, the diluted responsibility to give greater clarity and enhance the empowerment of our people. We've put in place more horizontal organization that enhances expertise, collaboration and innovation. And lastly, we've brought closer the whole organization to our clients to be ever more responsive in order to respond to their needs and sustain profitable growth. And with the third transformation project that we announced last April to employees. It concerns our new compensation and career management policy. In each of these areas, we're currently putting in place a fair and transparent framework, reflecting the organization as I wish to see it transform. This new framework has been developed to ensure that each employee of SCOR is an actor of their own career and offering all equal opportunities. This change will allow us to attract new talents and make SCOR an employer of choice even more attractive. I have the firm belief that the cultural and organizational transformation of SCOR undertaking these past few months is a key success factor for our strategy, and we'll derive many benefits from it in the years to come. I'd now like to return to our sustainable development commitments. Fabrice recorded in his introduction that SCOR is a committed player of the energy transition as well as the environment. For over 20 years now, the SCOR strategy is focused around 3 complementary areas that we outlined last year. The first is the stead targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas reductions in our underwriting, investment portfolios as well as for group's operations. The second risk on interaction with our clients and businesses in which we invest to make them fully aware of climate change risks and to support them in their transition. Lastly, the third focus area is our steadfast support to the transition to a sustainable economy that protects the environment. These 3 pillars, reduction, dialogue and support to transition form the bedrock of our strategy. And [indiscernible] will return to that in greater detail later. Today, I can announce that SCOR has set its first interim target at 2030 pertaining direct insurance portfolios as well as P&C facultative reinsurance the scope of the portfolio encompasses European companies based on PCAF, the partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials with this interim target, SCOR seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 23% by 2030 as compared to the end of 2022, once again demonstrating our result to contribute actively to the fight against climate change by setting targets that are aligned with the trajectory of 1.5 degrees. That is science-based to ensure consistency between our ambition and action. The Board has decided to put in place an executive compensation policy that is ambitious and as an incentive with a decarbonization target linked to underwriting. It's a totally novel measure. Of course, alone, we won't be able to reach these goals: the work of public authorities and the efforts of all players in the real economy. We'll also be decisive. I'd like to end this presentation by sharing with you my vision of the role that SCOR must play to address the challenges, which our societies are facing, where all experiencing a world that is increasingly uncertain unpredictable that is transforming at an ever faster pace. Of course, I'm thinking of climate change, and we're all seeing the effects of that also the expanding cyber risk as well as rising geopolitical tensions contributing to a refragmentation of the world, the awareness around risk is growing strongly within society and is requiring a strong demand for protection. We see this through the issue of insurability that has come to the for these past few months in public debate in France as well as in other countries. Never before has the role of reinsurers been so crucial to assess price pool and absorb risk. Against this backdrop, SCOR has a decisive role to play as a solution provider. We have all the necessary assets for that. The expertise, the financial strength of our balance sheet as well as the power of our franchise. My conviction is that these solutions will require innovation and partnerships that we'll be able to forge with our clients and with our partners. So the challenges that we have to address are complex global and constantly changing. And now the solutions to meet those challenges must be innovative and collective. So this will offer fascinating professional opportunities that are in tune with today's expectations working in an international environment on real problems by relying on innovation and group strength. All that lies at the heart of my ambition for SCOR. Thank you for your attention. [Presentation]

I would now like to give the floor to Vanessa Marquette, who is the Chair of the Committee -- the Nominations Committee, and she's going to tell us what they have been doing. Thank you very much, Fabrice. it's a great pleasure for me to tell you about the work that has been done in the Nominations Committee. I would like to bring up, first of all, Denis Kessler's succession as Chair of the Board, which ended with the nomination of Fabrice Brégier. Then we will look at the composition of the Board with this year the renewal of 2 directors and the departure of [indiscernible], who has reached the statutory age limit. And lastly, we will talk about the assessment of the Board that I carried out just a few months ago, the conclusions of which you can find in the universal registration document. But before all of that, I would suggest that we come back and look at some of the contextual issues. 2023 was a year that was very eventful and was marked by major changes in the governance of our group. On the 1st of May 2023, Thierry Leger stepped in and replaced Laurent Rousseau at the Head of SCOR. Francois de Varenne, who had been the interim CEO from January to May 2023 was then appointed CFO and -- Deputy CFO and Deputy CEO of SCOR. Denis Kessler passed away on the 9th of June 2023. He was actually devoted to the group that he had presided over for 20 years, and he was active in his role up until the very last day of his life. Augustin de Romanet, Vice Chair was interim until the nomination of Fabrice Brégier, the 25th of June in accordance with the provisions of the rules of procedure. And lastly, [indiscernible], who reached the statutory age limit will be leaving us after this final shareholders meeting after having been in the Board for 20 years, we would like to warmly thank him for his total commitment to the group. I would like to talk to you now about how we went about filling in Denis Kessler's shoes as Chairman of the Board. As you know, the Nominations Committee had already begun to work on this before the 2022 shareholders' meeting so that we could hopefully announce Denis Kessler's successor before the end of 2023. Denis Kessler died on the 9th of June 2023. So the committee and the Board had already started to work, supported by Egon Zehnder, and we continue to work until the final appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the 25th of June. This upheaval of our calendar had no effect on the smooth running of the succession process. After Denis Kessler's passing, the committee had already identified a certain number of external candidates that had been interviewed by Egon Zehnder. Confronted with these external candidates, some directors also informed us of their interest in becoming Chair of the Board. Fabrice Brégier was one of them, and he resigned from the Head of the Nominations Committee to avoid any possible conflict of interest. [indiscernible], who was an independent Director of the Board and also Chairman of the Risk Committee, accepted to temporarily step in as the Chair of the Nominations Committee so that Denis Kessler's succession could be carried out smoothly with the help of Augustin de Romanet, who was the Interim Chair. After having listened to Thierry Leger's opinion and the analysis of Egon Zehnder, the committee and the Board finally pronounced themselves unanimously in favor of the appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the 25th of June 2023. [indiscernible] handed back the Head of the Nominations Committee and the Board gave me the honor of becoming a Chairwoman. What about the Board's composition? This year, there are 3 terms of reference that we'll be reaching an end. So those Patricia Lacoste, Bruno Pfister, [indiscernible]. I've already told you that [indiscernible] has reached the statutory age limit and he will be leaving the Board after this shareholder's meeting. However, Patricia Lacoste as with Bruno Pfister could have their terms of office renewed for 3 years, a period during which if all things remain equal, they will remain independent directors. With an attendance rate of 100% in 2023 and a great involvement in a number of committees and being members of the Board, they fully contribute to all of our work. So the Nomination Committee and the Board has unanimously voted in favor of the renewal of the terms of office. Last year, the terms of office of [indiscernible], Zhen Wang and [indiscernible] were renewed for a period of 2 years and not 3, which allows for a better turnover of terms of office. In 2025, there will be 5 terms of office that will be reaching an end. Some directors could be leaving the Board, particularly if they lose their status of independence by having been there for too long. The Nominations Committee has already begun to seek for one or more candidates who could join the Board in the 2025 Shareholders' Meeting. Maybe the size of the Board will be different, but only marginally so. And lastly, let me just remind you that the composition of the Board today is fully in line with the best standards and practices in corporate governance. It scrupulously respects the recommendations of the AFEP-MEDEF Governance Code. The Board is -- has a great diversity of skills, a large majority of independent directors. It's international with 9 different nationalities represented. There are 2 employee reps, and there is a large proportion of women as well, almost 50%. The Board has also helped in its work by committees. There are 7 consultative advisory committees that are in charge of specific topics and issuing recommendations. Let me remind you of how these committees are formed. All of the directors are involved in the works of the committees, who meet as regularly as necessary. And the attendance rate is around 100%. Patricia Lacoste will be joining the Nominations Committee after this shareholders' meeting, replacing [indiscernible]. I'd like to finish by the assessment of the Board. This year, once more, the Board tasked me with the mission of evaluating the Board after the external evaluation that was done by Egon Zehnder in 2022, 2023. I did this under the helpful supervision of Augustin de Romanet, the Vice Chair of the Board and in accordance with the provisions of our rules of procedure. First of all, it seems -- I must inform you all that the directors essentially pronounced on the period following the appointment of Fabrice Brégier and then the relevance of the functioning of the Board. The conclusions of the assessment were shared with the Nominations Committee and the Board, the synthesis is relatively detailed, and you can find it in the URD, which was published several weeks ago. Obviously, we will need to be finding new Board members in the future. And if -- when we start to look for them, we need to find some with specific skills, operational skills and reinsurance, knowledge of the American market, expertise and digital IT and always have been transparent and structured. The Board members are extremely satisfied by the binome that they can see with the CEO and the Chairman of the Board. At the same time, we are asking that some of the technical subjects that are discussed within the committees themselves, for which they don't necessarily -- a lot to which they don't necessarily belong should also be reported back to the Board with extremely detailed reports. So this is the end of my presentation. I will be delighted to see you again next year to tell you exactly how far we have gotten our work and how far we have got in looking for several new Board members. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, [indiscernible]. And let me as well, perhaps just say one or 2 things for the departure of [indiscernible] will be leaving. He was there for a long time with Denis Kessler, wise man, a knowledgeable man. With his help in his authority, we were able to write some wonderful chapters in SCOR's books. So thank you so much, [indiscernible], for everything that you have bought for your unstinting -- with you unstinting devotion to the group. Thank you very much. And I'd now like to give the floor to Fields Wicker-Miurin, who is the Chairperson of the Compensation Committee.

Well, shareholders and friends, as with every year, it is my pleasure to find myself before you to tell you about the work that's been done in the Compensation Committee that I chair. The resolutions in the concerning compensation are quite numerous this year because of the events that were scattered through 2023. I would like to tell you about these events, talking about those that are impacting the 2023 financial year and those that will be impacting the compensation policy for 2024. But first and foremost, I'd like to remind you very briefly as to what our underlying context is. As you know, Laurent Rousseau left SCOR on the 26th of January last year. Francois de Varenne stepped in his stead as the head of the group for an interim period, which ended on the 1st of May, with the arrival of Thierry Leger in his new job. Francois de Varenne was then appointed CEO and Deputy CEO of SCOR. But 2023 was also and above all marked by the passing of Denis Kessler. Our Chairman died on the 9th of June after more than 20 years at the head of this group. Augustin de Romanet, who was Vice Chair, stepped in as Interim Chair until the appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the 25th of June 2023. These changes are leading us today to put before you no less than 11 resolutions, 6 say-on-pay exposed that have to -- exposed, that to have to be dealing with 2023 compensation; three, say-on-pay ex ante for the compensation policies 2024 and 2 resolutions pertaining to the payout of performance shares and options to the directors and employees of the group. I would like to tell you now, first of all, about the compensation that was paid out or attributed in 2023, beginning with those of the Board members. Denis Kessler remained Chair of the Board until the 1st of January -- from the 1st of January until he's passing on the 9th of June. During that period, he got fixed compensation of EUR 265,909 and benefited from the normal advantages. Fabrice Brégier for his part, was appointed Chair of the Board on the 25th of June 2023. His compensation policy was the same as that which was applied in 2023 as it had been for Denis Kessler. So from the period, from the 25th of June to the 31st of December 2023, he received a fixed compensation of EUR 311,000 and normal advantages, excluding life -- specific life insurance that Denis Kessler continued to benefit from subject to certain conditions and which -- to which Fabrice Brégier renounced. Augustin de Romanet was not compensated during the interim period where he was Vice Chair and the committee and the Board would like to warmly thank him for that. Let's move on now to the 3 directors who have the -- the 3 CEOs who have been -- who were the head of SCOR during 2023. For Laurent Rousseau, his compensation for the 25 first days of January was determined following -- strictly applying the specific and approved policies by the General Assembly in 2023. Laurent Rousseau benefited from a bonus of some EUR 60,000. The committee and the Board considered that the leadership criteria had been reached to the extent of 50%, given the departure of the CEO at the beginning of the year. Laurent Rousseau received no shares [indiscernible] for 2023. Francois de Varenne for his part was CEO of SCOR from the 26th of January to the 30th of April 2023. His compensation was fixed, applying the specific policy that was approved by the 2023 Shareholders' Meeting. The Compensation Committee and the Board are extremely satisfied by the work that was accomplished by Francois de Varenne at the Head of SCOR and therefore, have decided to grant him the maximum bonus. Francois de Varenne was compensated also as a member of the Executive Committee up until the 25th of January and again as from the 1st of May 2023. He did not receive double compensation during that period where he was Interim CEO. And lastly, Thierry Leger received a fixed amount of EUR 833,000 and a bonus reaching EUR 908,000 corresponding to a success rate of 109%. The Compensation Committee and the Board also considered that the leadership criteria applicable to the bonus had been reached and surpassed by 140%, considering the results that were obtained by Thierry Leger, who, despite his arrival halfway through the year and the passing of Denis Kessler managed to fully galvanize his troops. Let's move on now to the 2024 compensation policy, and I'll begin with that of the Board Directors. As you can see on this slide, we have not modified nor asked for any change in the distribution key nor an increase in the overall budget although it had been insufficient in 2023. Indeed, the Board and the committees met 50 times in 2023 to organize above all the replacement of the CEO and the Chairman succession. The theoretical compensation of the Board Directors should have surpassed EUR 10,000 -- by EUR 10,000, sorry, the amount of the budget that has been attributed by the shareholders' assembly. Each director, therefore, received less compensation so that we did not spend more than the EUR 2 million that was allocated for those meetings. If I move on now to the shares compensation policy, this does not change, EUR 600,000 a year. No shares, [indiscernible]. And the specific life insurance policy that Denis Kessler benefited from is not being carried over. And if we move on now to the compensation policy of the CEO, which has largely evolved to meet the requirements expressed by our investors and proxy advisers. On this page, you have the main principles that guided the work of the Board and the committees. There are 8 of these principles. The balance between the fixed and the variable compensation and short and long-term compensation. Transparency, visibility and consistency, efficiency with a policy that rewards super performance and which sanctions underperformance. Objectivity, thanks to measurable criteria and the doing away with any overlapping between criteria that are applicable to the bonus and to shares and [indiscernible] carrying on efforts that -- in order to adapt to IFRS 17 and today, the new objectives of our new strategic plan; and lastly, the rolling out of the ESG criteria, as Thierry said, criteria that had integrated in all long-term compensation. And it is in this way that without changing neither the amounts nor the balance that we managed to find last year, the Compensation Committee and the Board completely [indiscernible] the way that the bonuses and the shares and the [indiscernible] were being delivered. Performance criteria and targets are in line with the main operational challenges of the group and the objectives and the group's hypotheses. Our different scales, measurable scales have been rethought with different thresholds that are triggered today at 70% of the target attained as opposed to 50% or 60% only last year and in the previous years. And lastly, the committee and the Board only kept in mind one qualitative objective that is leadership. And that is what will be applicable to the bonus that has been -- there's a ceiling at 100% as opposed to 140% last year. And this -- to meet the arrival of Thierry Leger. As I said, ESG criteria today are fully embedded in long-term compensation. On the one hand, we measure the progress that has been accomplished by the group in gender equality, that is a social criteria. We also measure to what extent, we have managed to reduce gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and our investments in our operations and even as Thierry said, in the way in which we underwrite, which is particularly ambitious and commits us. This is the environmental criterion. And together, the ESG criteria amounts to 15% of the granting of shares and [indiscernible], which is a 50% increase over last year. I would like to end by drawing your attention to the mechanism of neutralization of super performance that is applicable to shares and [indiscernible]. If the success rates of one of the criteria is null and void, the others will be -- will reach a ceiling of 0, which means that the compensation will not be a core or there will be compensation based on an underperformance. This mechanism is applicable in accordance with the TSR criteria, and we have reviewed this with the agreement of the CEO in order to neutralize the vesting of certain lower-than-average activities. And lastly, a very quick word, just to tell you that in order to roll out these policies and to strengthen our employee shareholders, we are proposing, renewing the resolutions whereby shares and [indiscernible] will be will be granted to the directors and employees of SCOR. The overall budget envelope for these [indiscernible] will no longer just be given to the managing directors of SCOR, except on exceptional circumstances. And there are a lot -- there's a slightly larger number of shares that will be handed out. I'll remind you that these attributions do -- will be continued in the same way as they were last year. And in order to conclude, let me just tell you how very proud I am of the work that the committee has done since I became chairperson and in particular, over the last year. During the 2023 assembly, I told you of our ambition, which was to continue to design policies of compensation that would be attractive, that would be encouraging. And that would ensure that the interests of shareholders, the group and those who work in the group would all be aligned. It has not always been easy. We have worked as hard as we can. We are very proud of our policies. And we will respect the votes which we hope today will have your approval, not only this year but also in the years to come. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Fields. It's always a rather difficult exercise that you quit yourself remarkably well over to Augustin de Romanet, Vice Chairman, Chair of the Sustainability Committee, who will present our initiatives pertaining to our climate strategy.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning, all. I'm going to present 3 documents to you. One, on the global ESG strategy. And then we'll focus on climate with 2 documents, a document on climate policy in general, a final document will be the climate policy for 2023. Those of you who want to [indiscernible] you have the summary of what I'm going to tell you. Firstly, summary of our activities. Sustainability Committee comprising 7 members met on 4 occasions in 2023, good attendance of 86%. We had very busy regulatory agenda, drawing up the first alignment ratios with taxonomy preparing the new obligation, stemming from the new [indiscernible] directive corporate sustainability reporting. We review the items of the sustainable strategy and our new ambitions for the period '23, '26 covering the strategic plan. These targets cover the 3 pillars of sustainable development. That's to say combating climate change with the new target of becoming net zero by 2030 on operations of the group. And new targets drawn up for underwriting or which I'll tell you a bit more about in a moment. Secondly, the employed dimension with an upping of the group's ambition as Fields just said regarding the feminization of executive bodies initially are pledged to reach 30% feminization of top management by 2025. Commitment taken as part of long-term compensation of the CEO and [indiscernible] commitment to reach 32% of top management feminization by 2026. Lastly, in terms of good governance as Fields also set out, part of the CEO's long-term compensation is henceforth indexed on the targets for reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Committee also focused on our ESG rating with particular attention on that supplied by CDP, that's the new name of the former Carbon Disclosure Project who's criteria is linked to transparency of information supplied on climate and the environment. Lastly, the committee reviewed the performance indicators of various actions contained in the annual plan and ensure the successful rollout of the strategy. We also reviewed the nonfinancial performance statement. Section 6 of the universal registration document, also the sustainability report that dives deeper into the work of SCOR. Turning now to SCOR's climate strategy. Well, the climate strategy, as Thierry Leger outlined a few moments ago, is part of what's known as change theory. That is to say the combination of various measures to promote a reduction in greenhouse gases in the group's portfolio. And of course, in the atmosphere. Let's start with the first measure. Steering portfolios through exclusion of fossil fuels and ambitious targets applicable to underwriting portfolio's investments and operations, the 23% target on underwriting that Thierry Leger has just announced is a new target that completes the targets announced in previous years and unveil on investments and operations. This new target covers the part of the portfolio of SCOR business solutions pertaining to European clients. Indeed, we considered that it was unreasonable to base ourselves on a global portfolio because these are companies whose indicators are not all reliable or even all available. Regarding investments now. The reduction targets have already been set in previous years in line with scientific data. Lastly, operation SCOR's daily activity, travel, offices, heating. We announced in the strat plan Forward 2026, our willingness to be net zero by 2030. The annual target for reducing the carbon intensity [indiscernible] 45% for 2024 with 2019 as a benchmark. These targets have been defined and approved by the Board and rest on scientific data to return to global warming that at a maximum under 1.5 degrees. Second part of change theory is dialogue with our partners [indiscernible] people to initiate a dialogue with partners at least 30% of the premier that we underwrite to invite them to reduce their greenhouse gases. We also joined Investor coalitions to interact with the main emitters. Thirdly is the group -- the role played by SCOR in the transition to a low-carbon economy happens through its underwriting and investment activities. Here, again, quantitative targets have been set. An increase of 3.5x premier from low carbon energies and investment targets for green bonds that fund projects to finance green activities or promote the environment transition. 2023 was a pivotal year because the new targets on underwriting for reduced intensity. The group has now rolled out its change theory across all its activity. That's to say underwriting investments and its own operations. All these targets demonstrate the group's ambition. Lastly, we seek to apply the best governance practices. That's the reason why these decarbonization criteria were included in the long-term compensation of the CEO with milestones based on the strategic plan. Turning now more specifically to the achievements in 2023. We announced last year at the AGM that we would no longer cover premier linked to new gas fields. This has been achieved. Furthermore, we announced our intention to increase twofold premier from low carbon energy by 2025. And the chart bottom left shows that this target has already been reached in 2023 and ahead of our timetable. Turning now to investments. The decarbonization target for equities and bonds of private issuers. We're well on the way to reaching it. We're at 27%. That was the target at the end of 2024. We've already reached 25% reduction at the end of '23. As you can see top right, achieving this target depends in large part on the behavior of businesses in which the group invests, which isn't totally in our control. The peak of greenhouse gases hasn't yet been reached. We must track our portfolio very closely, but we remain confident. And what's more, we've reached in terms of green bonds our 2023 target because with an achievement of 900 million of green bonds in our portfolio, we've exceeded our target of 850 million for the end of 2023 as regards the group's daily operations. The target was a reduction of 55% per employee. It's reached in 2023 because we've reached 64% at the end of '23 versus [indiscernible] shown top right on the chart. As I said in 2023, we've set interim milestone for the long-term compensation of the CEO. Lastly, in '23, we undertook preparatory work ahead of the implementation and compliance of the new nonfinancial reporting directive. We will report to you on our work early next year. So by way of conclusion, I can emphasize the group continued in 2023, all the components of its change theory by relying on new trajectories that are science-based with targets applicable to the portfolio SCOR business solutions. We now have quantitive and measurable targets to contribute to net zero emissions by 2050. Thank you.

Thank you, Augustin. That was the last presentation by Board members. My thanks to all of them, the various reports of the Board for the ordinary and extraordinary parts of the meeting were made available to you. And it's now time for me to give the floor to the statutory auditors, Mr. [indiscernible] for his conclusions.

Thank you, Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. On behalf of the group of statutory auditors, I'm going to deliver a summary of the 10 reports that are submitted to your AGM. The first 3 -- first reports concern the ordinary part of your AGM concerning the annual financial statement. Consolidated financial score, I see on the annual financials, we delivered an unqualified opinion without any observation. In terms of key audit matters, the justification of our assessments, like in previous years, focused on the assessment of technical provisions of premium and equity securities as regards to the other specific verifications provided by law. We have no observation, say, the lack of information on the payment terms for insurance and reinsurance transactions and the management report that concerns all companies. We record that we don't form a view on provincial data pertaining to solvency. Turning now to the consolidated financial. We also issued certification with an unqualified opinion, a technical regarding change in accounting method, IFRS 17 for insurance contracts as at 1st of July, the justification of our assessment focuses on that. You'll find in our report all the due diligence undertaken to comply with that. And then key audit matters that are pretty straightforward, the estimate of insurance liabilities, life [indiscernible] and deferred tax assets in respect of tax liabilities that we can [indiscernible]. On the group's management, we have no comments on the sincerity of the information provided in this report. Turning now to related party agreements. The purpose of our assignment is to bring to the attention of your related party agreements that were brought to our attention and not to form a view on the usefulness and merits. Our report refers to no new related party agreement, continues an agreement taken out in 2021, consistent with the transactional protocol between SCOR [indiscernible]. Turning now to the extraordinary part of your AGM. We've drawn up 7 reports concerning the various delegations granted to the Board pertaining to the capital and issuance of equity securities we put in place the measures, we do necessarily have no comments to make on the information supplied in these transactions -- in the reports of the Board insofar as the final conditions of some of these transactions haven't yet been fully defined. We will draw up in due course, if necessary, additional reports. Thank you.

Thank you. I propose we now open this up to the Q&A session with the shareholders present. [Operator Instructions]

[indiscernible]. We represent [indiscernible]. We're in about 100,000 shares. Well, firstly, well done to the Board, bravo to the new Chief Executive and of course, bravo to all the employees for the new momentum impacted for a few quarters now and return to a form of calm, that's appreciated by all. I've got 5 quick questions. The first I'd like you to return to the pricing environment, which, as you said, has been pretty favorable now for some 2 years. And perhaps you could tell us about its prospect for sustainability, what might disrupt this favorable pricing environment and what are the levers? Second, the other types of risk that you deem poorly priced or mispriced where you want to reduce your exposure, certain types of risks that are less attractive, hence, what's your strategy in this regard? Third point, Q1, so reported this morning, a pretty sharp decrease in the share price on a quite high [indiscernible] basis. Analysts noted there were 2 points that negatively unsettled the market, mortality claims, high mortality claims in the U.S. and resiliation for P&C. Can you perhaps enlighten us, shareholders, tell us a bit more about that on that cancellation? Third -- fourth point, rather. A word on Covea. According to the press, there's an arbitration procedure underway with Covea on the conditions of disposal of life book business. Can you tell us a bit about the context and give us a time line for such proceedings if they're indeed underway? And then [indiscernible] personal question for Thierry Leger. You've been in the job for just over a year. You've already given how -- what you feel about the situation. But what left by way of areas of improvement? You've set out a strategic plan, but just many things are underway, but where is further progress required, what's your take?

Thank you. Thierry will indeed answer the key points [indiscernible] I can say that overall, we have reviewed upon proposal of management. Our risk allocation by business line is quite detailed while taking into account the risk. I mean it's no secret to say that on U.S. casualty [indiscernible] slightly more prudent than in the past. So Thierry will give you some information about that.

Yes, there's a decrease. But I don't follow the share price on a daily basis. Otherwise, it really does lead to a headache. What counts is the share price performance. I mean we're now stable at around EUR 30. Believe me, there's still substantial scope for our economic value. This measured is beyond EUR 50. So I'm not saying that everything must be reflected in the share price. But you see that there is indeed a variance. It means beyond '23, we have to make our shareholders confident in this message of resilience that we want to convey. So we adopt a prudent attitude in the delivery of our results. We're not overly exploiting things in order to keep reserves that will allow sustainable performance and sustainable dividends paid. And on the arbitration that you mentioned, you'll appreciate that I can't give you the details. I mean if there's an arbitration on the retrocession of 30% of our life portfolio held by our Irish subsidiary. That was a substantive agreement in 2021 that we bought with Covea. It means there's a disagreement, I mean, as part of the rules of business, we have other arbitration proceedings with other clients. It's not what we want, but it's one way of reaching an agreement when there are diverging views as to the time line. It's not in our control, but we expect that by the end of '25, the arbitration will complete. It's not a commitment on my part. We're not -- we don't master that all. I'll go through your points, pricing environment currently very high, hasn't yet shown any signs of a decrease or if there have been signs, they're really very weak signals. We're still seeing put demand and supply that is struggling to keep pace, driven by inflation, climate change and other factors. And on the other hand, let's not forget, I mean, the price is but one factor. When it comes to pricing risk, we also look at the structures and terms and conditions, and they haven't changed at all. If we look back historically at events, after a very hard market episodes, it was a relatively hard market with very satisfactory margins that tend to last for some 10 years. So it's not something that stops broadly. Let me remind you that we're in a very volatile environment, be it climate or with geopolitics. It would be very surprising if those factors were to disappear totally this year. I don't expect that to happen. There will unfortunately be regular reminders that we are now living in a very volatile world. In terms of mispriced risk, we were quite vocal in saying that liability risks of -- in the U.S. and not at the right level, we decided to exit, not fully, but in -- so far as we don't have an ambition to grow in those business lines pretty much. I mean all the other business lines today are posting satisfactory margin levels if we just look and see. We just -- if they contribute to a diversification or not. And that's where we allocate our capital. Q1, from my standpoint, well, an element of uncertainty was given on the life side with negative CSM experience P&C resilience. I'll return to that in a moment. But I don't think that was a real problem. But anyway, I'll return to that. In life, as you know, [ is about ] with 60 years and more, it represents a considerable stock. And it's true that from time to time in life as well as in non-life business, we see quarters with a high loss ratio. And that's what we experienced in the first quarter. We also asked our shareholders not to overly interpret the events of one quarter in a line of business that last for 6 years. I don't want to, in any way, diminish the negative impact of that volatility, but I won't go so far as to say, as you must read a lot into a quarter life business. The cancellation of an important treaty that we wrote is quite normal these treaties that are signed in the interest of both companies, if one of the two parties feel that they're treaty no longer offers the expected advantages, each party is free to terminate it, and that's what happened, nothing unusual about that and the impact in Q1 resolve the matter. Fabrice mentioned the arbitration with Covea. So I won't go back on that, but I just want to remind you all that Covea is also a SCOR client, has been a client of SCOR for decades, and you can well imagine that such an arbitration proceeding is not in SCOR's interest, it's in our collective interest to make sure that all this comes to a swift outcome. On the personal front, I've mentioned this, if you referring to what needs to be everything that is in Forward '26 describes it very well. We have an extremely strong base with the SCOR franchise I've visited hundreds of clients over the past 12 months. And what I heard from each and every client is that they wanted to see SCOR ramp-up in reinsurance programs. So I see huge potential. I mentioned the people. But I'd like to once again acknowledge them. They're experts, they're hugely motivated who have a genuine SCOR spirit, and I'm trying to obviously have some of that spirit rub off on me when you come from the outside. You don't always have the right reflex, a great team with such a frankness. I mean I'm very positive. We've got plans, projects, we described them in for '26 ALM data, et cetera. I'm very confident that we will succeed going forward.

[Interpreted] Daniel [indiscernible], Individual Investor. I have several questions on the ecological transition. In the presentation, you don't talk about Scope 1, 2, 3 which is the ABC classification of carbon. So what are you doing for that? Secondly, you have an assumption of 1.5 degrees, now I don't know you've probably heard John [ Colichi ] at the assembly, who said we're already up to 2 degrees, 1.5 degrees is obsolete. So if you are working on 1.5 degrees, you're ensuring wind storms, hurricanes, floods, and it will be more than 1.5 degrees. So I don't see the correlation between your business and what you're communicating. And as with many companies, you're buying green bonds, everybody is in buying green bonds, everybody is buying green electricity. I found in your presentation, there's a lot of greenwashing and I think that you should be in your plan, you maybe need some type of plan B because at this rate, you're going to be ensuring much greater risks. And when Mr. Leger is satisfied the increase in premiums just as well because the risks that he's ensuring are also increasing.

[Interpreted] Thank you for these questions. Obviously, our Scope 1 and 2 is extremely limited. We are committing ourselves. We are entering into engagements that's not greenwashing and net zero emissions by 2030 it's quite severe. And we're already on a pathway to that. We're halfway there and have been working on it since 2019. What is essential is Scope 3. It's our investments, it's the insurance contracts that we enter into. If we stick to these engagements, we are still in line with the 1.5-degree objective if you look at our portfolios, and that is, after all, the objective with one slight reservation. This is going to depend globally on the performance of all of the players in the corporate world. You're quite true. We are concerned about this even if we ensure climate risks, our idea is never to multiply those risks. We are relatively prudent in our policies pertaining to natural catastrophes. So I'm very sorry that do you feel that this is just pie in the sky. It's not true when we decide that we are no longer going to be ensuring any more gas pipelines we're actually penalizing ourselves on a business level. But we're doing it because we believe that it is in the interest of the company in the medium term. this policy will continue to evolve and accordance with the AFEP-MEDEF, we meet with them regularly. And we discuss this also this with the shareholders regularly, but we have taken note on what you feel about this policy.

[Interpreted] Yes, just to come back a little bit, this morning, I saw that the share price had dropped down by minus 7% and now it's minus 11%. So it is a severe drop. Is this a problem of communications? Is it the market that hasn't truly understood or hasn't properly interpreted your figures? But I think that there is something underlying all of this. And since we have lost the emblematic Mr. [ Kessler ], have the shareholders actually being shuffled around? We listen to all of the stories about how SCOR has avoided hostile takeovers and so forth, where are we standing on that [ today ]?

[Interpreted] On the second point, of course, our shareholders are not always stable. There are always coming and going. But I can mention the fact that Covea and SCOR have signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2021 which allows SCOR to raise options at a definite price on some of the prices that are detained by Covea. And I think that in 2023 in October, we did raise 5% of those shares. I believe that Covea still has 3.7% of our shares and those 5% were taken over by BNP [indiscernible]. So that is one major change in the structure of our shareholders. I think that as far as the share price is concerned, you can't just look at this on one particular day, particularly a day where there is a shareholders' meeting being held. It has dropped by 7%, maybe in the euphoria of the announcement of financial results by some of our competitors. But I think all of this is linked to the risk appreciation that people concerning our life portfolio, as we've already mentioned, there has been a discrepancy as to what the market was expecting a variance, but this is not something that is de facto. It is not something that is there to stay. It is a one off. And as we have done several times in the past with the property portfolio, we will be revising what we are doing in the life activities. We remain confident. This is not pie in the sky. We remain confident in our plan. And I hope that this plan is going to allow us to continue to surge forward as we have done in the past as far as the share price is concerned.

[Interpreted] [indiscernible] for [ MG ] Finance. I do have a question on SCOR's climate engagements. Despite the impact on health and the environment today, the group is still ensuring Tacoma, Freeport, Energy and there's a much longer list as well. Mr. [ Darman ] he talked about SCOR's engagements in the field of science. Now the international energy agency studies on methane have been published are very clear. And all of this, unfortunately, in euros is actually to the advantage of the Russians and it would be a great threat. And SCOR seems to be dragging its feet as to engaging itself in this. Does SCOR think that it is doing risk prevention when you are still reinsuring new methane plants? And I just wonder whether the best thing to do for SCOR would be to stop reinsuring any new projects of this type of fossil fuels, such as new methane plants.

[Interpreted] I feel that I understand that there are a lot of questions around our environmental strategy. So this is a prime occasion to tell you more about our ambitions in that field. I'd just like to come back to what we are actually doing and how this is at the heart of a strategy aiming at net zero in underwriting and an investment between now and 2050 and operational net zero before 2030. With this, we are fully in line with the top of the world range of objectives, you find European companies normally at the top of the range, and most of the European insurance and reinsurance companies are ahead of the rest of the world. And I don't think that we have anything to be shamed of when we compare ourselves with our peers in the rest of the world. So we have laid down certain objectives. I've heard several people talk about greenwashing, and I firmly disagree with you. SCOR is not doing greenwashing. All of our engagements, all of our objectives we respect. And these are concrete objectives. We're even aiming higher than some of these objectives. And I don't know whether there are other companies that congratulate themselves on doing that. So again, SCOR is a top ranking in respecting its objectives. And now I would like to precisely reply to your question. What happens in practice is that we are not targeting one single country, one single technology or one single company specifically. It is our role not to do that. But given our rules, given our objectives, this, of course, as Fabrice says, this influences our underwriting, our investment. And it is absolutely clear that if our objective is to decrease the intensity of the carbon in our portfolios by underwriting risks, then it's quite clear that we're going to begin by looking at the most intense risks. So it is obvious that risks such as LNG or others, will be targeted much more quickly than other risks. But I'm absolutely against for a company such as ours. In fact, it would be dangerous to specifically target a certain technology or a certain sector or a certain country or a certain company, that is not our strategy. What we do promise to do, we achieve. There is no green washing. And I think that all of this is firmly taken into account in our underwriting policies. Thank you very much, Thierry. I think there will be two last questions, please. Quick so that we can have quick answers.

[Interpreted] I represent shareholders who've given their proxies to this deal. You mentioned life reinsurance. Could you tell us a bit more about the difficulties and the risks on this life book and its proportion? And secondly, can we have an assessment of the Baltimore loss and events in New Caledonia?

[Interpreted] So in terms of life reinsurance, what we've observed and that's where there can be differences across reinsurers. We had high U.S. mortality in Q3 2023, and we see in Q1 2024 these claims appearing in our results. It really does depend on how actuaries reserve for the losses, companies have different cutoffs. The cutoff for us is such that Q3 in terms of the loss ratio is enters in Q1 the following year. So is mortality that represents a fully normal volatility compared to the scale of our commitments in the U.S., there's nothing normal about that. And then we also said that the settlement pays for our claims that was heavily impacted by COVID. We're returning to a far more normal settlement pace. We've maintained the COVID pace. And so we expect, but we're not sure so that we're perhaps slightly conservative on that front. That's something we're going to track and monitor, and if it is conservative, then we'll be able to announce something positive on that front going forward. Baltimore is a loss, as you know, that carries with it a fair amount of uncertainty. We've decided to, as you know, apply very prudent reserving policy. And that's a statement that we've made on several and when there are major events to provision very prudently. We provisioned for some EUR 60 million on this claim. We consider a large part a bulk of reserving is genuine or real prudence. And for New Caledonia, it's far too soon. It's obviously events out there. tragic. However, and it's always rather cynical on the one hand, to see what's happening in the country and to see all the distraction and that human beings are sometimes capable and to say that as a reinsurer, we don't expect the loss to be too significant. I hope that answers your question.

[Interpreted] For the duration of bonds, given that the Fed and the ECB are likely to stop rising rates or even begin to decrease by the end of the year. For the Fed, you're going to consider increasing the duration of these bonds to benefit from higher rates for a while? Secondly I find that the ESG bonds that have just put out by the EU, this bond is also going to impact European peers is an advantage when it comes to selling SCOR products to other clients because there will be other competitors, other peers who have this standardized reporting procedure, and so that would be an advantage for our sales force even if it costs a bit in terms of reporting costs.

[Interpreted] Well, so you see that reporting and rules can sometimes offer benefits. I'll see if Thierry shares that view. The duration of the bond fully agreed with your observation. So what we're doing is with the money, fresh money coming in from the January, April and other renewals, we invested in longer duration. So that's indeed precisely what we're doing along the lines of what you outlined ESG Europe bonds weight, we're watching to see if it's benefit for us. And if it's advantageous, we'll make use of it. And to reward the gentleman who's had his hand up for a very long time, which will bring the Q&A session to -- we're running very late thanks.

[Interpreted] Thanks for the very useful discussions. You mentioned Mr. [indiscernible] transformation plan underway with various points as regards improved operational efficiency and intermediate alone. Can you give more information to your share? How many people are impacted the management ratio before after sales development, you mentioned to move closer to clients to bring SCOR people closer to their clients, what's changing between the past and the future. Thirdly, on your climate pledges. What I'd like to know is today on oil and gas, in terms of underwriting, it represents how much the sector so that we can say, well, should we continue to exclude the sector sooner or later, heavily or not as a shareholder? We want to see underwriting increase going forward.

[Interpreted] [indiscernible] Operational efficiency, let me remind you that I spoke of values bring the whole organization closer to our clients, swifter decision-making to be more agile, et cetera. It's really in that spirit that we've attacked these three initiatives. I mean the aim has never been cost efficiencies. I mean, there was an efficiency gain in what we did, but it's never been the objective. So restructuring, it was a 2-stage process. There were people who were impacted, as you indicated, we're not in any way concealing that. We've always sought to find solution with the individuals who wish to stay the restructuring also comprises internalization. We have hundreds of jobs that are externalized today that we want to internalize going forward. We have great many positioned to offer. We've always sought to offer an alternative to our people before losing them. We have no ambition to lose our people who are very dedicated word excellent. That's not at all our ambition. There were some departures that occurred for the clients, I mean, didn't quite understand that client focus. I mean I'll give you an example, pre-restructuring. There were people who are in charge of major clients or major countries, who were 7 levels removed from me. You imagine the distance and those individuals now two levels away. I hope that illustrates what we've sought to achieve is very different that I find myself at 7 levels from a client or two. And the same goes for the whole organization. So I expect things to change quite considerably. Then we spoke about oil and gas, the climate. So SCOR is a key player in the energy sector. SBS, we're one of the global leaders energy, that's gas, there's oil, there's solar power. We're also one of the global leaders in solar power in sustainable energy. We're also trying to make this transition, the shift from one to the other but there are clients who are there for the long term with a transition, transitioning to. And these are clients that we still support even if they're in the oil business. We differentiate heavily when it comes to our commitments in that field. Thank you, Thierry. Shareholders, thank you very much for this in. It's high time that we move to voting on the resolution. I now have the final number of [ 128,716,000 ], that's 71.85% of the company shares with voting rights. So we will now proceed to vote on all the resolutions, and the agenda in the notice of meeting published in April. We'll now rapidly run through the resolutions and vote on them at this meeting. If you could just remind us of the operating rules.

[Interpreted] Yes. A quick word on the use of your voting devices. The device is strictly personal and it holds a number of shares that you have. There are 3 keys: Green, for; yellow, abstention; red, against. 15 seconds to vote after which you cannot change over after the meeting. You're asked to return your devices as you leave to avoid interference, please switch off your mobile phones during the voting process.

[Interpreted] Number of votes for the Chairman, powers to the Chair represent 4,633,279 that's the same number of votes. 2.2% in other words.

[Interpreted] Let's now vote on the resolutions. First resolution, approval of the financial statements of the company for year ended December 31, 2023. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Sorry, if I could have the results on my screen, that would be great. So resolutions approved. Second resolution approval of the financial approval of consolidated statements for the year ended December 31, 23. Please vote. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Vote closed. Approved, 99.93%. Resolution 3. The percentage is indicated on the slide. Unfortunately, we can't hear the speaker in the audience. There are many votes by correspondence, as you know, at AGMs, what I suggest I will give you that at the end of the meeting resolution, the number of votes but the information is the same as in previous years. We'll get the number of votes in addition to the adoption percentage. Resolution, appropriation of net income, setting of dividend for year ended December 31, 2023. Please vote. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Vote closed. Approved, 99.99%. 4, special report of the auditors on the agreements in Articles 225 and following. Please vote. [Voting]