About

The group legal department at Coface, a credit-insurance business, is a key part of a company that has activities in approximately 65 countries and must abide by strict regulations when completing its business. Coface accrued €1.4bn of turnover in 2016 and has 4,300 employees worldwide, demonstrating the importance of the company within the sector. According to legal advisor Eléonore Jafari, Coface is faced with regulatory issues that are ‘extremely critical’ as well as ‘complex corporate issues’. Such complexities include cross-border issues, new legal entities, restructuring and winding-up, and the diversity of its activities which include insurance, reinsurance, information services, debt collection services, factoring and bonds. A team with a high degree of competency on insurance law and corporate law, the Coface group legal department is led by group general secretary Carole Lytton who is highlighted for her ‘fundamental role’ in bringing the team closer to the activities and concerns of the group. At her disposal is a department staffed with two deputies, seven French qualified lawyers and another 13 legal advisors located in each of Coface’s seven different geographical locations across the globe – ultimately giving the company worldwide, comprehensive support. Lytton has led the Coface legal team for over a decade, but also cited for their impressive work are Olivier Belondrade, Lionel Rousseau and the aforementioned Eléonore Jafari. Olivier Belondrade and Lionel Rousseau were highlighted for their approach to ‘legal aspects of project management and [managing] the Paris based team and foreign in-house counsels’. They are known, with Jafari, to ‘support commercial and financial teams of the group in complex transactions and are particularly active in the corporate social responsibility matters’ respectively. Jafari believes that the most notable achievements for the team in the recent past have been connected with three of Coface’s business activities; the first is the development of ‘new sources of financing and the structuring of such corporate finance transactions, including a securitisation scheme, a subordinated debt and the issuance of commercial paper’. Furthermore, adapting to a new regulatory framework (Solvency II) which came into force in 1st January 2016, as well as supporting a spin-off deal on an historic activity that Coface was commissioned to work on for the French government, involving ‘major negotiations’, are also testament to the team’s ability.