France’s latest riots are expected to cost insurers no more than €1 billion-€1.2 billion, according to Morningstar DBRS, assuming no further violence. The agency says the unrest reinforces the need to treat strikes, riots and civil commotion (SRCC) as an accumulation risk requiring dedicated pricing, limits and reinsurance.
The latest wave of unrest comes against a backdrop of mass protests over living costs, public spending and government reforms, most notably the Yellow Vest movement of 2018–19, which began over fuel taxes and broader economic grievances.
The current demonstrations began in September 2026, with school students protesting teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and deteriorating facilities. The unrest subsequently broadened to encompass rising fuel prices, the cost of living and dissatisfaction with public services.
Although hundreds of thousands of people joined largely peaceful demonstrations on 17 October, smaller groups engaged in widespread looting, arson and vandalism, including attacks on public buildings in Paris, Marseille and Limoges.
As of 19 October, authorities report around 2,400 arrests and damage to or looting of at least 3,000 businesses. Alexandre Bompard, president of the Retail and Trade Federation, has said the cost to the establishments will run to several hundreds of millions of euros.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called for localised curfews, while President Emmanuel Macron has ordered a review of security failures.
“Insured losses should remain below EUR 1 to 1.2 billion. Assuming no further violence, we expect the latest French riots to be a manageable earnings event rather than a capital event for the country’s major insurers, particularly after reinsurance recoveries and potential claims against the French State,” Marcos Alvarez, Global head of Insurance, Morningstar DBRS, explained.
The executive also highlighted the implications of France’s planned state-backed riot insurance mechanism, which has been approved but is not yet operational.
Alvarez continued, “The planned framework would introduce mandatory riot coverage and allow insurers to transfer a substantial share of qualifying losses to a State-backed mechanism managed by the Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR), France’s public reinsurer. Because the framework is still pending, the mechanism does not protect insurers against the latest riots.
“Riots are increasingly behaving like natural catastrophes from an insurance perspective. The key risk is having correlated claims across multiple cities at the same time.
“France’s 2023 riots generated about EUR 730 million of insured losses, reinforcing the case for insurers and reinsurers to treat SCCC as an accumulation risk requiring dedicated pricing, limits and reinsurance.”
As Reinsurance News understands, SRCC remains a potential pressure point in reinsurance renewal negotiations, particularly in a softening market where cedants may seek broader coverage on more favourable terms.
However, the latest unrest in France serves as a timely reminder that such events can generate significant, correlated losses across multiple locations.
SRCC should therefore be explicitly priced and carefully managed within reinsurance treaties, rather than treated as a peril that can be added to coverage at little or no additional cost.
