Coface receives its first AAA ESG rating from MSCI

Coface has been rated AAA by the extra-financial rating agency MSCI. This places Coface among the Top 4% of Property & Casualty Insurance companies worldwide for action across environmental, social and governance matters.

MSCI ESG Ratings aim to measure a company’s management of financially relevant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. The company uses a rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders (AAA) and laggards (CCC), according to their exposure to industry-specific ESG risks, as well as the ability to manage those risks relative to peers.

Coface’s upgrade from AA to AAA is driven by a combination of factors, including:

• Strong corporate governance practices, notably the independent majority of its board, which has separate Chair and CEO roles and an equal amount of women and men,
• Strong business ethics policies and practices: MSCI highlights Coface’s strong anti-corruption framework, with compliance programmes that include staff training and whistleblower protection,
• Robust efforts to offset risks of physical climate change in underwriting impacts.

“This new rating is a recognition of Coface’s significant commitment to incorporating environmental, social and governance dimensions into our activities. We are very pleased to see that a recognized extra-financial rating agency such as MSCI judges Coface to be moving into the right direction,” said Carole Lytton, Coface Group General Secretary.