The FFA details its “CATEX” project
The CATEX project is an insurance scheme that the FFA proposes to set up in partnership with the French State. It aims to cover companies against the financial consequences of a lockdown imposed by the public authorities within the framework of a pandemic or epidemic thanks to the payment of a “resilience lump-sum” enabling them to get through the crisis. Since the initial work presented to the government on 11 June, this draft scheme has evolved thanks to the exchanges with various stakeholders. It is a balanced insurance scheme that has just been presented to the public authorities, which will have to follow up on this proposal.
The CATEX project would concern all companies covered by a retail or corporate comprehensive insurance policy, whatever their size and sector of business.
The event triggering CATEX insurance would be a state of pandemic declared on all or part of the French territory, either by the WHO or by an independent reference body, and which would lead the public authorities to declare a total or partial closure of a group of companies for a specific period of time in order to fight against the spread of the pandemic or epidemic.
The CATEX scheme would compensate companies with a “resilience lump-sum” calculated without traditional expert opinion, within 20 to 30 days following the claim by the insured to its insurer.
The ‘resilience lump-sum’ would be a percentage of lost revenues, which would depend on the sector of business and defined according to a grid common for all insurers. It is intended to compensate 50% of the gross margin lost, excluding payroll and profits.
CATEX would cover a maximum of 3 months of total or partial closure following a pandemic and could be split over a period of 12 months.
In addition, the total amount of compensation per company and per pandemic would not exceed €500K (maximum compensation for large companies).
The 3 months maximum duration is understood after a deductible equivalent to 15 days of closure (consecutive or separate days but for the same event).
Beneficiaries of the ‘resilience lum-sum’ would be all companies for which revenues have fallen by more than 50% during the period of lockdown and by more than 8% over the corresponding calendar year for reasons directly or indirectly related to the imposed closures.
