THE BLOG

Newcoast chooses to anchor on the French Riviera

Newcoast is a company from Florida (United states) and one of the world leaders in insurance and financing solutions for the marine and recreational vehicle (RV) sectors.

The company chose to include an office in Antibes to manage its future expansion on the European coasts of the Mediterranean coast.

Interview with Hugo Jacquot, Newcoast‘s European Directeur

Can you introduce us to Newcoast and its characteristics?

Newcoast is part of the American group MarineMax. The company was initially called Newcoast Financial Services and its business was mainly related to credit financing of boats and yachts in the US.

As Private Insurance Services recently became Newcoast, the company now offers a global package that includes financing and insurance services for pleasure boats, yachts and recreational vehicles.

In Europe and for the immediate future, the Newcoast subsidiary will focus on insurance services for the maritime sector with myself leading as Directeur Europe.

As an international group, Newcoast is able to act globally, both on the American continent and in Europe. We are able to mobilize all of the group’s expertise in a timely manner to respond to the issues of our international clients, both on financing and insurance matters.

What are the reasons for your establishment on the Côte d’Azur?

The establishment of Newcoast on the Côte d’Azur should help us access the European market and develop our activity in the Mediterranean area.

Like Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Antibes and the Côte d’Azur are very important hubs for the maritime industry with a large number of shipyards, marinas and ports.

Antibes is in the center of the Mediterranean area where most of our clients are concentrated: from Italy to Spain, through the Principality of Monaco, Toulon or La Ciotat.

This location should enhance the close relationship we have with our customers and allow us to provide assistance within a few hours wherever they are.

The notion of customer service is very important for Newcoast and we must be able to be present in the shipyards to assist them in case of damage or any other incident covered by our insurance.

Moreover, we wanted to integrate a member country of the European Union in order to benefit from the free provision of services to intervene easily and quickly in this economic zone.

Finally, my training and my personal experience in France allowed me to better master the regulatory aspects of the insurance business and the obligations to which our activity must conform.

What support did you receive from Team Côte d’Azur?

We took the necessary measures for our establishment at the height of the COVID crisis. Despite the confinement, all the administrative and regulatory formalities were handled very quickly.

Team Côte d’Azur was particularly helpful with the banking aspects. As a subsidiary of a non-European company (USA), it was more difficult for us to find a banking institution that could meet our expectations. Team Côte d’Azur helped us make the connection with different banks to start our implementation process.

Team Côte d’Azur also supported us when we started recruiting for the Antibes site, and we are still looking for new talent.

We will continue our collaboration with Team Côte d’Azur in the coming months to strengthen our position in the local ecosystem.

What are your development objectives?

Newcoast is looking to expand in the Mediterranean region with possible new locations.

To support our growth, we plan to recruit 5 people in the next three years on the French Riviera.

The group is also working on the digital transformation of our business and on new services.

Digital proximity and digital services are now essential to facilitate the relationship between a company and its customers. We are developing innovative technologies to bring us closer to our customers, to make our processes more transparent, and to increase the overall satisfaction of the people and companies who already trust us.