Scor Global Life has opened a Sydney office to offer reinsurance for the Australian life insurance market.

The French company received Australian Prudential Regulation Authority approval earlier this month to start operations.

It will be run by Craig Ford, who has previously held senior positions at Suncorp and Zurich in Australia and Allied Dunbar in the UK.

Mr Ford says currently the business has three staff and will be adding a fourth shortly. 

The company will initially provide reinsurance to small to medium-sized group insurers, he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We feel this offers more opportunities rather than with the larger group insurers,” he said. “Subsequently we will also be looking at retail opportunities.”

Mr Ford says Australia is a completely new market for Scor Global Life and it doesn’t have any existing life reinsurance clients, although Score Re has been servicing the local general insurance market since 1976.

“The response has been positive, with people curious about our global life research and development centres,” he said.

Scor Global Life CEO Giles Meyer says the Australian and NZ life insurance market is very attractive with premiums approaching $2.3 billion a year offering profitable growth opportunities.

The Australian business will be part of Scor’s Singapore hub, which is the headquarters of the company’s Asia-Pacific region.