Article ID: dcbbd924c9739726f86468a59eaa8cdc232f7c2e700ae552f2f61ff16eb8b201
Source ID: primary:reinsurancene.ws
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AXA, the France-headquartered multinational re/insurance and asset management group, has unveiled its 2027-29 strategy, called “Growing Forward,” designed to deliver sustainable growth and market share gains at attractive margins. The insurer aims to do this through technical excellence and efficiency to support competitiveness and drive growth. The strategy intends to maintain best-in-class Property & Casualty (P&C) margins and further improve short-term Life & Health margins. AXA says that it aims to maintain a strong balance sheet and well‑diversified multi‑line model to drive market share gains and sustained earnings growth. The strategy focuses on accelerating customer-driven organic growth at attractive margins, as well as scaling AI across the business. The insurer has increased its ambition with four main financial targets for the 2027-2029 plan period: underlying earnings per share CAGR 2026E-2029E of between 7-9%; underlying return on equity of 15-17% over 2027E to 2029E; mid-teens CAGR in book value per share, inclusive of cumulative dividends, over 2026 to 2029E; and, circa EUR 25 billion cumulative organic cash upstream over 2027E to 2029E. AXA also aims to have an attractive capital management policy with a total payout ratio target of 75%. For 2026, AXA expects underlying earnings per share growth to be at the top end of the target range of 6-8%, and underlying ROE at the top end of the target range of 14% to 16%. For 2027–29, AXA has increased its underlying earnings per share CAGR target, building on its track record of consistent delivery, with all businesses contributing to earnings growth. These targets assume moderation in P&C pricing, including a softening market in large commercial, and a normalised natural catastrophe load of 4.5 points of the combined ratio. Details reveal that the plan is organised around three strategic levers: deepening customer relationships and expanding the addressable market; improving pricing, underwriting and claims management; and, increasing automation and AI and cost discipline. AXA’s strategy also plans to expand its presence in structurally growing and under-penetrated segments, expecting to gain market share in P&C retail, SME and mid-market, and in Life & Health that collectively represented 83% of group revenues in 2025. While AXA XL added 17% of group revenues in 2025, the insurer expects continued softening market conditions, so its focus will be on disciplined cycle management. Over 2027–2029, AXA reveals that intends to, amongst objectives, focus on Life & Savings, where it sees a sustained demand for private savings and retirement solutions; Direct Distribution, where the insurer is accelerating investment; and Inclusive Insurance, to offer affordable solutions to the growing share of low-income customers in Europe, and the expanding new middle class in emerging markets entering the insurance market for the first time. To maintain best-in-class margins, AXA intends to continue enhancing pricing accuracy through high‑quality data and advanced analytics, strengthen underwriting to enhance portfolio quality and support growth, optimise claims management and implement prevention solutions to improve claims outcomes. Simultaneously, the insurer expects to maintain its rigorous capital discipline and prudent reserving approach to deliver attractive returns with limited volatility. AXA intends to systematically embed data and AI across its value chain, with annual recurring benefits from AI expected to reach EUR 500 to 700 million (pre-tax) by 2029. AI will be used to advance pricing platforms across P&C and Health to improve accuracy and time-to-market, as AXA aims to implement AI-augmented underwriting to prioritise highest-value opportunities, accelerate time to market, and improve portfolio quality. Guillaume Borie, Global Head of Finance, Strategy, Underwriting, Risk and Technology, AXA, commented, “Our ambition is to take our franchise to the next level – turning our scale, technical discipline and AI capabilities into a lasting competitive advantage, delivering value for both our customers and shareholders.” Additionally, AXA intends to maintain a robust Solvency II ratio, driven by normalised operating capital generation of 25 to 30 points per year, and a low sensitivity to interest rate movements and severe stress scenarios. Alban de Mailly Nesle, Chief Financial Officer, AXA, said, “Our plan for 2027–2029 is one of disciplined growth and execution, with more ambitious targets for underlying EPS growth and ROE, and the introduction of a new book value per share growth target. At the same time, we will maintain our focus on balance sheet quality, in particular a very strong Solvency II position. Taken together, the new plan targets reflect the strength, diversification and resilience of AXA’s model and our commitment to delivering attractive, predictable shareholder value creation and returns over time.” Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer, AXA, added, “With our new plan, “Growing Forward”, we will build the AXA of the next decade, driven by a clear ambition: to become the insurer best positioned to meet our customers’ growing protection needs and address the emergence of new risks, and thus organically grow our market share across our geographies and lines of business. “Growing Forward” will build on the transformation carried out in recent years to create a simpler, stronger AXA, fully focused on its core insurance business. This model positions us well to withstand a volatile environment and deliver consistent performance across market cycles. In the current plan, “Unlock the Future”, AXA has demonstrated its ability to grow across all geographies and business lines, thanks to rigorous execution, a stronger focus on customer satisfaction that has reached record levels, and its ability to innovate to meet new protection needs. Today, all our geographies and all our businesses are in good shape and delivering excellent performance. AXA benefits from decisive strengths: strong diversification across both its businesses and distribution channels, significant scale across all geographies and market segments, a strong brand, superior technical expertise, and a strong balance sheet. “Growing Forward” aims to accelerate this trajectory with a stronger growth ambition to capture additional market share, earn the trust of new customers, and deepen the loyalty of our existing customers. To support this ambition, we will continue to enhance our competitiveness through disciplined underwriting and portfolio management, as well as strong cost control. This ambition leads us to raise all our financial targets while maintaining an attractive total payout ratio of 75%. With this plan, we will also accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence across the value chain, to improve our underwriting, efficiency, and customer service quality. “We will continue the progress made in recent years, leveraging our data, tools, and technology infrastructure, the talent, expertise and engagement of our teams, and a world-class ecosystem of technology partners. We also want to continue improving our response to the major challenges facing insurance: new technological risks, adaptation to climate change, rising healthcare costs, and the ageing of our societies. To keep risks insurable, we will make prevention core to our offers and services. This is in line with our DNA of social and environmental commitment and is our response to rising expectations of our customers for these solutions. “With “Growing Forward”, we are building the AXA of tomorrow: a high-performing and competitive AXA, an innovative AXA that listens to its customers’ needs, an AXA that contributes to a more resilient and inclusive society. We are confident we can deliver consistent earnings growth and create longterm value for our shareholders. In this next chapter, we count on the continued commitment of our talented people and agents, and we will continue to invest in our workforce to foster the entrepreneurial mindset that is deeply rooted in AXA’s culture.”
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