France

The European Central Bank warned in its May 2026 Financial Stability Review that European insurers and pension funds would be hit harder than banks by a severe private credit market shock. In an illustrative stress exercise, the ECB found that insurers faced the largest absolute impact — around 4% of assets — because their private credit exposures are larger, less senior, and more exposed to broader market repricing. Pension funds would suffer 5-6% asset losses, while bank losses would stay contained at no more than 1.3% of equity.

French health insurtech Alan raised $116 million in fresh funding at a $5.83 billion valuation, backing continued AI investment, international expansion, and further platform development. The capital raise underscores sustained investor appetite for digitally-native health insurance models in Europe, even amid broader caution in the venture market, and positions Alan as one of the continent's most valuable insurtech companies as it scales across multiple European markets.

France's AXA reported a 6% year-on-year increase in gross written premiums and other revenues to €38 billion for Q1 2026, with P&C insurance growing 4% to €21.5 billion and life and health rising 8% to €16.5 billion. The group's Solvency II ratio remained strong at 211%, despite a 4-point decline due to financial market volatility including higher inflation expectations. AXA reiterated it is on track to deliver earnings per share growth at the upper end of its 6–8% target range for 2026.