Insurance [Assurance]

Insurance functions as it does elsewhere in Europe, and indeed many insurance companies are affiliated with international groups or have trans-border alliances. Likewise, insurance is classified by client category as being for private persons [particuliers] or for professionals and businesses [professionnels et enterprises] and within the private sector as being life insurance [assurance vie] or non-life insurance [assurance].

Life insurance often is associated with investment and accordingly termed placements et assurance vie. About 60% of the population hold life insurance policies. Many life insurance policies also provide benefits for retirement [retraite], though retirement insurance may be separate.

Many types of non-life insurance are available, of which four are compulsory:

• Car insurance (Chapter 4) if you own a car.
• Home insurance [Assurance habitation] if you own or rent your home. Many home insurance policies are comprehensive [multi-risques], providing coverage of theft and natural disasters.
• Civil liability [Assurance responsabilité civile] to cover any accidental damages you may cause to another person or their property.
• School insurance [Assurance scolaire] if you have children of school age, to cover injuries sustained by or damage caused by a child. A school will request a certificate of insurance [attestation d’assurance scolaire] upon enrolling a child.

Insurance companies [Entreprises d’assurance]

Some 500 insurance companies, from smaller local enterprises to larger national and international companies, offer insurance in a competitive market. All insurance companies operating in the country are monitored by the Insurance regulator, and the Ministre de I’ÉEconomie des Finances et de l’Industrie publishes an updated list of all approved companies [les enterprises d’assurance agrççes] on its website at www.minefi.gouv.fr The seven largest insurance companies, all with offices and agencies across the country, are, in alphabetical order:

• AGF, head office at 87 rue de Richelieu, 75002 Paris, www.agf.fr.
• AXA, head office at 26 rue Drouot, 75009 Paris, www.axa.fr.
• AZUR, head office at 7 avenue Marcel Proust, 28392 Chartres Cedex 9, www.azur-assurances.fr.
• GMF, head office at 76 rue de Prony, 75017 Paris, www.gmf.fr.
• MAAF, head office at Chauray, 79036 Niort Cedex 9, www.maaf.fr.
• MACIF, head office at 2 and 4 rue Pied de Fond, 79037 Niort Cedex 9, www.macif.fr.
• MAE, head office at 62 rue Louis Bouilhet, 76044 Rlouen Cedex, www.mae.fr.

You can find the telephone numbers and addresses of local offices and agents in the Yellow pages or by using the online locators on the websites mentioned above.

As elsewhere in Europe, there are crossovers between the banking and insurance sectors: some banks now offer insurance and some insurance companies now offer banking services. Moreover, insurance now is offered at competitive rates by some major hypermarket chains, including:

• Auchan, www.auchan.fr/services/assurances.
• Carre four, www.carrefourassurances.com.

Insurance ombudsman [Médiation dans l’assurance]

If you are dissatisfied with an insurance company’s service, you should first send a complaint to the company. If that fails, you may contact the ombudsman of the Insurance sector organisation with which your insurance company is associated:

• Ombudsman of the French Federation of Insurance Companies [Médiateur de la Fédération Française des Sociétés d’ Assurances], 26 Bd. Haussmann, 75009 Paris, Tel: 01 42479131
• Ombudsman of the Association of Mutual Insurers [Médiateur du Groupement des Entreprises Mutuelles d’Assurances], 9 rue de Saint Petersbourg, 75008 Paris, Tel: 01 53042139.

Or, if you wish, you may contact the central insurance ombudsman agency by registered letter: Médiation Assurance, 11 rue de la Rouchefoucauld, 75009 Paris, Tel: 01 53322448.

Insurance regulator [Commission de Contrôle des Assurances, des Mutuelles et des Institutions de Prévoyance]

The Insurance regulator [Commission de Contrôle des Assurances, des Mutuelles et des Institutions de Prévoyance (CCAMIP)] is an independent public agency that monitors the insurance sector that includes 394 insurance companies [sociétés d’assurance], 31 reassurance companies [socieétés de reassurance], 17 group assurance companies [groupes d’assurance], about 2400 mutual insurance companies [mutuelles], 79 vested pension benefit schemes [institutions de prévoyance] and 95 supplementary retirement schemes [institutions de retraite supplémental] that together comprise a market of more than 170 billion Euros a year. For further information, contact the head office, CCAMIP, 54 rue de Châteaudun, 75346 Paris Cedex 09, Tel: 01 55074141, www.ccamip.fr.

Insurance sector organisations [Organisations du secteur d’assurance]

Almost all insurance companies are members of an insurance sector organisation, of which there are two, both with extensive information services for the public as well as Insurance ombudsman services:

• French Federation of Insurance Companies [Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Assurance (FFSA)], 26 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, Tel: 01 42479000, www.ffsa.fr.
• Association of Mutual Insurers [Groupement des Entreprises Mutuelles d’Assurances (GEMA)], 9 rue de Saint Petersbourg, 75008 Paris, Tel: 01 53042139, www.gema.fr.

Interbank payment order [Titre Interbancaire de Paiement (TIP)]

A TIP is convenient means for cashless payment of invoices, such as those regularly sent by utility companies. Typically, invoices have detachable TIP slips that you sign and return to initiate payment by transfer from your bank account via the Interbank Teleclearing System. Typically, after you open an account with a utility company or other supplier, the TIP on the first invoice sent will have a request, RIB Merci, which means that you should enclose one of the Relève d’Identité Bancaire (RIB) slips for your bank account, as well as sign and return the TIP. Thereafter, the TIPs on invoices will be imprinted with your bank account number, so you need send no more RIBs. Most suppliers send postage-free TIP return envelopes with invoices, imprinted with a reminder that they are to be used for TIP return only. For further information on how TIPs are processed, contact Groupement pour un Système Interbancaire de Tèlècompensation (GSIT),31 rue de Berri, 75408 Paris Cedex 08, Tel: 01 53893535, www.gsit.fr.

Interbank payment systems [Systémes interbancaires de paiement]

France has three interbank payment systems, two for large-value payments and one for mass retail transfers.

• The Transferts Banque de France (TBF) system, a part of the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer (TARGET) system, started up in October 1997. It is operated by Banque de France and is a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system that provides continuous transaction-by-transaction settlement.
• The Paris Net Settlement (PNS) system started up in April 1999 as a successor of the Protected Net Settlement system [Système Net Protégé (SNP)] that had operated since 1997. It is operated by CRI, a joint venture of Banque de France and nine credit institutions, and is a real-time system operating on a net basis to provide final and continuous settlement for transfer operations in central bank money accounts held by participants.
• The Interbank Teleclearing System [Système Interbancaire de Télécompensation (SIT)] handles retail payments and clearing of interbank exchanges of cashless payments. It started up in 1992 and in July 2002 became the sole system in the country. It processes some 45 million transactions a day, with a value of 19 billion Euros, and consequently is the largest retail system in Europe, both in volume and in value.

Contact the Central bank for further information on TBF and PNS, the European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Fax: +49 6913447407, www.ecb.int for further information on TARGET, and Groupement pour un Système Interbancaire de Télécompensation (GSIT),31 rue de Berri, 75408 Paris Cedex 08, Tel: 01 53893535, www.gsit.fr for further information on SIT.

Livret A

The Livret A is the country’s most popular savings plan, held by three-quarters of all residents and accounting for about a fifth of all savings. Its popularity is due in part to it being fully accessible, paying a guaranteed interest of 2.25% set by the government and being tax exempt on a balance of up to € 15,300. Its roots go back to 1818, when the first savings banks [caisses d’épargne] were established with the purpose of making private savings [épargne populaire] available to finance public-sector projects. As this book goes to press, Livret A is offered only by the Caisse d’Epargne mutual savings banks and by La Banque Postale, part of La Poste (Chapter 36), but after more than ten years of protesting that monopoly, other Banks may be allowed to offer it, in step with the ongoing liberalisation of the banking sector.

The Mint [Monnaie de Paris]

The French Mint traces its history back to the year 864, when Emperor Charles II or Charles the Bald (823-877) issued a decree “forbidding the striking of coinage in any other location than the Palace” [fait défense de fabriquer des monnaies en nul lieu si ce n ’est au Palais]. Today, Monnaie de Paris is one of the largest mints in the world. Its factory at Pessac (Gironde) handles all processes in coin manufacture, from casting metals in its foundry to the final packaging of finished coins for circulation in France as well as in other countries. Accordingly, it is a major producer of the eight Euro coins. It also produces commemorative coins, pendants, medals and other collectables that are sold in its shop as well as by authorised distributors. It has a numismatic museum open to the public and an extensive numismatic research library and archives. Its principal facility is at 11 quai de Conti, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, Tel: 01 40465656; the museum is at the same address; the numismatic shop is at 2 rue Guénégaud, 75006 Paris, Tel: 01 40465855; the website at www.monnaiedeparis.com has pages in French and in English and a locator of the Mint’s distributors across the country as well as elsewhere in Europe.

Moneo

Launched in 2000, Moneo is an electronic purse [porte-monnaie électronique] system for small daily transactions. The basic Moneo card may be preloaded with up to € 100 at a Moneo terminal and thereafter used to settle cash payments of up to €30. The card does not require a bank account, so it may be used by children or tourists. Like cash, it is anonymous, which is why its content limit is €100. The Moneo function also may be integrated into a payment card on an account. In use, the Moneo card is inserted into a hand-held terminal in which the seller has keyed in the cash amount due. The customer then confirms the purchase by pushing a button on the terminal, and the Moneo card is debited. Moneo cards are available from almost all banks, and terminal use is widespread. For complete details, contact a bank or visit www.moneo.net.

Money transfer [Transfère d’argent]

Money transfer is convenient as neither the sender nor the recipient need have a bank account. La Banque Postale, available at La Poste offices across the country, offers two types of money transfer:

• Postal money orders [Les mandats] are available with ordinary delivery to 150 countries of transfers up to €3500 in four to 10 days or with express delivery to 12 EU countries of transfers up to €3500 in two days. Further information is available at all post offices.
• Western Union electronic transfer of up to €7600 within minutes to more than 225,000 agents in 195 countries. For further information, pick up a Western Union brochure at a post office or visit the French website at www.westernunion.fr

Novice investor training [École de la Bourse]

The École de la Bourse offers short courses and correspondence courses as well as publications to help ordinary people – small savers, students, wage-earners–understand the stockmarket and the financial details published by listed companies and the media and thereby become sufficiently skilled to manage their own portfolios. A typical novice investor course, held at one of 50 centres across the country, comprises seven two-hour evening sessions and costs € 107, with discounts in certain cases, and there are advanced courses for derivatives and warrants. Part of the Euronext consortium of stock exchanges, École de la Bourse is located at the Stock exchange, Palais Brongniart, 75002 Paris, Tel: 01 49275536, www.ecolebourse.com,> with an interactive locator map of facilities across the country as well as copious free online information, including a dictionary of stockmarket and investment terminology.

Online banking [Banque à distance]

Almost all banks offer online banking services via fixed or mobile telephone, Minitel or Internet. The Internet option is the most comprehensive, as it supports access to and management of accounts, transfers between accounts in France, printout of RIB bank account identifiers and ordering of other bank services. Contact your bank for further details.