AXA SA is the holding company of AXA Group, a worldwide leader in insurance, with total assets of €805 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020. AXA operates primarily in five hubs: France, Europe, Asia, AXA XL and International (including Middle East, Latin America and Africa).
AXA has five operating activities: Life & Savings, Property & Casualty, Health, Asset Management and Banking. In addition, various holding companies within the Group conduct certain non-operating activities.
AXA Group Insurance History
AXA originated from several French regional mutual insurance companies: “Les Mutuelles Unies”.
- 1982 – Takeover of Groupe Drouot.
- 1986 – Acquisition of Groupe Présence.
- 1988 – Transfer of the insurance businesses to Compagnie du Midi (which subsequently changed its name to AXA Midi and then AXA).
- 1992 – Acquisition of a controlling interest in The Equitable Companies Incorporated (United States), which subsequently changed its name to AXA Financial, Inc. (“AXA Financial”).
- 1995 – Acquisition of a majority interest in National Mutual Holdings (Australia), which subsequently changed its name to AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. (“AXA APH”).
- 1997 – Merger with Compagnie UAP.
- 2000 – Acquisition of (i) Sanford C. Bernstein (United States) by AXA’s asset management subsidiary Alliance Capital, which subsequently changed its name to AllianceBernstein (now AB);
(ii) the minority interest in AXA Financial; and
(iii) Japanese life insurance company,
Nippon Dantaï Life Insurance Company; and
Sale of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (United States) to Credit Suisse Group.
- 2004 – Acquisition of the American insurance group MONY.
- 2005 – FINAXA (AXA’s principal shareholder at that date) merged into AXA.
- 2006 – Acquisition of Winterthur Group.
- 2008 – Acquisition of Seguros ING (Mexico).
- 2010 – Voluntary delisting of AXA SA from the New York Stock Exchange and deregistration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and Sale by AXA UK of its traditional Life and Pensions businesses to Resolution Ltd.
- 2011 – Sale of (i) AXA’s Australian and New Zealand Life & Savings operations and acquisition of the AXA APH Life & Savings operations in Asia; and
(ii) AXA Canada to the Canadian insurance group Intact.
- 2012 – Launch of ICBC-AXA Life, a life insurance joint venture in China with ICBC; and Acquisition of HSBC’s Property & Casualty operations in Hong Kong and Singapore.
- 2013 – Acquisition of HSBC’s Property & Casualty operations in Mexico.
- 2014 – Acquisition of (i) 50% of TianPing, a Chinese Property & Casualty insurance company; (ii) 51% of Grupo Mercantil Colpatria’s insurance operations in Colombia; and (iii) 77% of Mansard Insurance plc in Nigeria.
- 2015 – Acquisition of Genworth Lifestyle Protection Insurance; and Launch of (i) AXA Strategic Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to emerging strategic innovations in insurance and financial services; and (ii) Kamet, an InsurTech incubator dedicated to conceptualizing, launching and accompanying disruptive InsurTech products and services.
- 2016 – Sale of AXA’s UK (non-platform) investment and pension businesses and its direct Protection businesses to Phoenix Group Holdings.
- 2017 – Announcement of the intention to list a minority stake of AXA’s US operations (expected to consist of its US Life & Savings business and AXA Group’s interest in AB) subject to market conditions, a strategic decision to create significant additional financial flexibility to accelerate AXA’s transformation, in line with Ambition 2020; and Launch of AXA Global Parametrics, a new entity dedicated to accelerate the development of parametric insurance solutions, broaden the range of solutions to better serve existing customers and expand its scope to SMEs and individuals.
- 2018 – Acquisition of (i) the XL Group, creating the #1 global P&C Commercial lines insurance platform and (ii) Maestro Health, a US health benefit administration digital company; Initial public offering (“IPO”) of the US subsidiary, Equitable Holdings, Inc. (1), on the New York Stock Exchange; and Exclusivity agreement entered into with Cinven for the potential disposal of AXA Life Europe (“ALE”), a specialized platform which designed, manufactured and distributed AXA’s Variable Annuity products across Europe.
- 2019 – Agreement to sell AXA Bank Belgium and conclusion of a long-term insurance distribution partnership with Crelan Bank; Sale of AXA’s remaining stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) (2); and Finalization of the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in AXA Tianping.
- 2020 – Agreement to combine the non-life insurance operations in India of Bharti AXA General Insurance Company Limited into ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited; Sale of AXA’s Life & Savings, Property & Casualty and Pension businesses in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia to UNIQA Insurance Group AG; Agreement with Gulf Insurance Group to sell AXA’s insurance operations in the Gulf Region; and Agreement with Generali to sell AXA’s insurance operations in Greece.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
AXA offers in France a full range of insurance products, including Life & Savings, Property & Casualty and Health.
Its offering covers a broad range of products including Motor, Household, Property and general liability insurance, Banking, savings vehicles and other investment-based products for both Personal/Individual and Commercial/Group customers, as well as Health, Protection and retirement products for individual or professional customers.
In addition, leveraging on its product and distribution expertise, AXA France is developing an Employee Benefit proposition internationally to individuals, corporates and other institutions.
NEW PRODUCT INITIATIVES
As part of the accomplishment of the Ambition 2020 plan, AXA France has launched several new product initiatives in 2020 with a focus on Life & Savings segment. In Savings, a new Unit-Linked infrastructure fund “AXA Avenir Infrastructure ” was created to offer clients additional portfolio diversification options.
Previously available to institutional investors only, the fund gives retail investors – via their life insurance policy – the opportunity to invest in infrastructure projects carried
out by listed and non-listed companies.
Those projects include but are not limited to transport, digital infrastructure, renewable and conventional energy. All projects subject to corporate social responsibility controversy, such as coal industry and bituminous sands, are excluded from the fund’s investment scope.
Moreover, AXA France has launched a new online service called “Ma Retraite 360 ” which allows clients to monitor their income level at retirement generated through all types of pension plans.
The digital solution also offers clients the ability to integrate other pension plans held at other financial institutions as well as other revenue streams such as Real Estate income. In Protection, AXA France has developed a simple and competitive Personal Accident product “Ma Protection Accident ” to protect customers against bodily injuries that occur in daily private lives.
Additionally, in partnership with Western Union within the Credit & Lifestyle Protection business, AXA Partners launched “Transfer Protect ” which offers to Western Union customers the opportunity to subscribe to insurance cover in case of death and disability.
DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
AXA France distributes its insurance products through exclusive and non-exclusive channels including exclusive agents, salaried sales forces, direct sales, banks, as well as brokers, independent financial advisors, aligned distributors or wholesale distributors and partnerships.
