Xavier Laurent: Banging the drum for ‘consistency’ at Covéa Insurance following new UK leadership

In September 2025, Covéa Insurance – the UK arm of Paris-headquartered Covéa Group – announced that incumbent chief executive Georges De Macedo would be stepping down from the leadership position he had relished and enjoyed for a little over two years.

Although happily exiting the business for purely personal reasons and a return to his homeland in France, De Macedo’s departure signals a step change at Covéa Insurance as the leader leaves his ‘Doing what really matters’ business strategy – which he first launched in December 2023 – in the hands of his successor to complete.

Choosing his leadership replacement became an even more pertinent decision when Covéa Group last month (October 2025) confirmed the extension of De Macedo’s strategic plan for the UK from its original three-year time frame into a five-year programme, running until 2028.

In an exclusive conversation at the time, De Macedo told Insurance Times that this “timing is quite good because it allows me to close the previous phase [of the strategy] and the current year and also have [my successor] really involved in the discussions to set the direction for next year and the next phase of the strategy”.

So, who has De Macedo and Covéa Insurance chosen to spearhead the insurer’s profitability focus from 2025’s fourth quarter and beyond?

Enter Xavier Laurent – a fellow Frenchman with a “particular focus on business development” as well as “a broad international background in the insurance sector, having worked across both mutual and corporate companies in personal and commercial lines”.

Laurent and De Macedo are currently working side by side during a three-month transition period until the end of 2025, while the firm awaits regulatory approval on Laurent’s appointment. The incoming chief executive will then fly solo at Covéa Insurance’s helm from the onset of 2026.

Once established as the sole head of the UK business, Laurent is not preparing to undertake massive, immediate change to make his leadership mark, however.

In fact, he tells Insurance Times that he is extremely cognisant of the “very deep transformation” Covéa Insurance has already been executing over the past two years – as part of De Macedo’s established five pillar strategy – and so his mantra upon starting his new role is “consistency”.

He explains: “To summarise everything in one word is consistency.

“It’s consistent for Covéa Insurance, it’s consistent for employees. It’s very important because [UK staff] have been living [in a] transformation phase [for] two years, very deep transformation, and so it’s very important for them to really understand there is no change, except maybe the face, but otherwise, the [company’s] message, strategy, goal, direction will remain the same and above all, for our partners, the brokers, nothing [has] changed except the face.

“The group is here for the long term, so what matters is to bring continuity, stability [and] to develop the business – that will be one of my particular focuses, business development, which I believe will be instrumental in supporting Covéa Insurance’s next chapter.”

Staying the course

Laurent predicts that he will start work preparing the business’ next strategic cycle at the end of 2026 and into 2027 – however, the incoming leader is keen to emphasise that the insurer’s “commitment in our strategy on the intermediated market” will not waver under his oversight, especially as strong broker relationships is one of the pillars included in the ‘Doing what really matters’ plan.

He says: “We are committed to our [broker] partners. We trust them. We are one of the only stakeholders [that] is completely committed to this relationship with the brokers only, [with] no disruption through other distribution channels.

“We trust brokers and we will do our best to serve them, as well as the end customer. So, we keep the path and we keep the same strategy.

“We want to teamwork with [brokers] as much as possible and deliver the best service for brokers to give them the opportunity to deliver the best service to insureds.

“I will not change everything. The team is already doing very well. But my job is to sustain what has been done, especially the profitability target, but also to challenge ourselves every day to improve our services towards customers – both brokers and end customers.”

Another facet of the ‘Doing what really matters’ strategy that Laurent is keen to adhere to is Covéa Insurance’s investment in talent and technology.

“It’s very important for us to invest a lot in people,” Laurent notes. “[Covéa Insurance is] people oriented with the challenge to overperform. [Being] people oriented is really key – for brokers, for regulation, for employees. We are working [in] a human being business, so that’s really critical for us.

“Everything is very consistent and my point of view right now is that De Macedo and the team have laid strong foundations to build up the future [of Covéa Insurance]. And now, at least for the next [strategic phase, the plan] will be to deliver. So, nothing to create [right now], but we need to deliver.”

Country culture shock

Despite his wealth of industry experience, Laurent confesses that like most of his market peers, joining the insurance sector was a happy accident.

“I wasn’t born to be [an] insurer,” he jokes, “but I’m passionate [about] the topic. It’s both financial – so figures, facts – and also people oriented. It’s a good combination.”

Laurent’s curriculum vitae showcases an international financial services focused career, with arguably enviable tenures in Morocco, Senegal and Benin for Allianz, stints in Madagascar and Zambia for LFS Financial Systems, as well as posts in his native France for Axa Corporate Solutions – now Axa XL – and Groupe SMABTP.

Laurent’s appointment at UK-based Covéa Insurance, therefore, fills a current geographical void in his professional experience to date – although he has worked with London-based brokers in the past, Laurent admits that he has “a lot to learn” about the UK general insurance market.

“I wouldn’t say I’m experienced with the UK market,” he says. “I have a lot to learn. I’m very modest. I’m new in the country, new culture and I will take [the] time to really understand [the UK insurance market].”

In fact, the myriad challenges arising from the UK’s current soft market cycle, claims inflation, market consolidation and innovative usage of artificial intelligence (AI) added to Covéa Insurance’s allure when Laurent was initially assessing the job opportunity.

Reflecting on his first impressions of the UK general insurance landscape, Laurent explains: “[The UK has] a highly competitive, increasingly dynamic, softening [insurance] market. It’s crazy, the premium rates are dropping like hell in some business lines.

“I am so shocked when I hear [about] combined [operating] ratios reaching above 100% for some insurance companies. Insurance is a value proposition, but all the stakeholders have to be in a healthy shape. The customer has to get claims paid, so needs an insurance company in a healthy financial situation. We focus on profitability. It’s to make sure we are sustainable over the years.

“The reality of [the UK insurance] market [is that it has] very volatile, very short cycles. You have to be agile to face these short cycles. [This is] more difficult for insurance companies because it brings more volatility.

“I like [this] kind of challenge, so happy to be on board and build the proposition with brokers.”

Learn and deliver

Despite still being heavily engrossed in what Laurent describes as “the learning phase” since joining Covéa Insurance, it is clear that the chief executive is gearing up to accelerate the insurer’s progress through the second stage of the ‘Doing what really matters’ strategy between 2026 and 2028.

“The growth of business development is something that I’m interested in,” Laurent confirms.

“Once you have set the strong foundations for the back office, you can think about [the] top line and [growth] – especially with [the] intermediated market. That’s something I really like, [to] build a value proposition.

“Business development will be instrumental in supporting Covea Insurance UK’s next chapter. But I will do [this] thanks to the previous steps that have been done – the strong foundations in underwriting, finance, claims management. [This next chapter is] feasible because the previous stage has been achieved.

“Frankly speaking, I’m not thinking about my [leadership] legacy at this stage. It’s not my way of working. I’m very humble and I’m on the learning phase first of all. I’m action oriented, so I will focus on delivering and then, and only then, I can think about [my] legacy. One step at a time.”