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The AXA Group announced a 3% drop in its gross sales between 2019 and 2020 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, reaching a total of 5,215 million euros.
For the P&C activities in the United Kingdom and Ireland, gross sales decreased by 1% during the 12 months ended December 31, 2020, to now stand at 3,457 million euros.
These figures are part of the AXA Group’s 2020 annual financial results, published today.
Regarding the contribution to the turnover of the UK and Ireland commercial lines portfolio, the commercial automobile decreased by 8% between 2019 and 2020 to reach 606 million euros, while the non-automotive commercial automobiles improved 2% to € 928 million.
At the same time, for the UK and Ireland retail portfolio, retail automotive sales grew 1% to EUR 1,349 million over the past year, while non-automotive consumer products generated sales of 574 million euros for 2020, or 4% less than 2019 figures.
P&C revenue in the United Kingdom and Ireland fell by 1% overall to € 3,457 million.
However, AXA XL’s turnover increased by 3% to reach € 18,346 million at the end of December 2020.
Speaking on the UK results in particular, Antimo Perretta, AXA Group Managing Director for European Markets, said: “In the UK market, our performance has logically suffered from the situation stemming from Covid.
“Overall, I would say that the Covid and the economic environment have impacted us in the growth of P&C and especially in the commercial lines.
“We are always confident for the future because we have very good products and the way we work with our partners will help us to grow in the years to come. “
Protect exposure to Covid-19
Within the AXA Group, “the impact on 2020 operating income of non-life claims and solidarity measures related to Covid-19 was 1.5 billion euros, after tax and net of reinsurance”, which is in line with to AXA forecasts published in the results for the first half of 2020.
The financial effect of containment measures in the second half of 2020, however, remained “neutral” with “additional claims in commercial lines being offset by frequency advantages in retail lines”, such as automotive.
For 2021, AXA has “considerably reduced” its exposure to new claims linked to the pandemic, said Alban de Mailly Nesle, Chief Risk Officer of the AXA Group. Speaking to reporters this morning, de Mailly Nesle explained that this was achieved by adding Covid-19 exclusions to the event cancellation and business interruption policies.
He said: “In 2021, we have significantly reduced our exposure to new Covid claims. In 2020, these complaints mainly came from two lines – event cancellation and business interruption. Event cancellation, the coverage of these events excludes the Covid.
“For business disruptions, we have also initiated a process to remove Covid coverages from our business interruption policies without damage. This will be completed at the end of the year when all policies have been renewed.
“Around April, 60 to 70% of our contracts would have been renewed with the exclusion of Covid coverage. Therefore, we do not expect any significant claims in 2021 from Covid. “
Etienne Bouas-Laurent, Chief Financial Officer of the AXA Group, added: “In order to reduce our exposure in the future, we have reviewed and revised the clauses of our business interruption contracts without damage across the group by explaining the exclusion factors.
“The deployment of these new contractual clauses is underway as part of the campaign to renew our insurance contracts.
Strong and resistant
In the group as a whole, gross sales amounted to 97 billion euros for 2020, a decrease of 7% compared to 2019. Operating profit also decreased by 34%, to 4. 3 billion euros, while net income fell 18% to 3.2 billion euros.
At Group level, total P&C revenue improved by 1% to € 48.7 billion. P&C operating income fell by 51% under the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and reached € 1,644 million.
Addressing journalists this morning, the message from the senior management of the AXA Group was essentially focused on resilience, robustness and resilience.
Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA, said: “AXA’s revenues held up well in 2020, down only 1% compared to the previous year, reflecting the relevance of our strategic choices and our business mix. ‘activities.
“Our favorite segments, the P&C professional branches, health and personal protection, continued to perform well with growth of 3% in 2020 and an acceleration in the fourth quarter (+ 5%).
“I would like to thank all of AXA’s colleagues, agents and partners for their unwavering commitment in these difficult times, as well as our customers for their loyalty and trust.
“Our strategy is aligned with the interests of all our stakeholders and firmly anchored in our goal – ‘Acting for human progress while protecting what matters’.”
During this morning’s press conference, Buberl also announced AXA’s ‘Driving Growth 2023’ plan, which revolves around five main areas of work:
- Develop the life and provident activities of the firm.
- Simplify the customer journey and improve productivity.
- Improved underwriting performance.
- Strengthening the insurer’s leadership on climate change issues.
- Increased cash flow across the group.
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