Virginia Gorla, CEO and General Manager of Intesa Sanpaolo Assicurazioni and Head of the Insurance Division of Intesa Sanpaolo has been appointed Vice President of the Conference of European Bancassurers As part of the general meeting held in Paris on September 30 and October 1 at the invitation of the Groupement Français des Bancassureurs, chaired by Philippe Perret (CEO of Société Générale Assurances), the meeting brought together leading bancassurance groups from across Europe to discuss the sector's future priorities and the role of bancassurance in addressing Europe's economic and social challenges.
The nominations
During the meeting, the members approved the appointment of Xavier Valley, CEO of VidaCaixa and General Director of Insurance at CaixaBank, as its new president, succeeding Xavier Larnaudie-Eiffel (General Delegate of the Groupement Français des Bancassureurs – GFBA), who has led the organization since its founding in 2023.
As part of the new governance structure, the General Assembly also appointed four Vice Presidents to support the President and contribute to the organization's strategic direction. In addition to Virginia Borla, the other three vice-presidents are Benny Dewyngaert, CEO of AG Insurance (Belgium); Jens Hasselbächer, Sales Director and Member of the Board of Directors of R+V Versicherung (Germany) and Xavier Larnaudie-Eiffel (France).
The priorities of the new presidency
Looking ahead, the new presidency will focus on five strategic priorities:
- Support efforts to reduce the protection gap in Europe and strengthen household financial resilience.
- Contribute to the development of the Savings and Investment Union and long-term investment in the European economy.
- Building a deeper and more structured engagement with European institutions and policy makers.
- Increase awareness and recognition of the social and economic contribution of the bancassurance model.
- Promote smart, proportionate and competitiveness-oriented regulation.
