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French insurer AXA has reported 7% growth in gross written premiums (GWP) & other revenues to €41.8 billion for 9M 2023 within its property and casualty (P&C) business, as growth in commercial and personal lines more than offset a year-on-year decline at AXA XL Reinsurance.
Commercial lines premiums rose 9% to €25.8 billion for the nine month period, driven by growth of 6% at AXA XL Insurance, notably in property and specialty lines, somewhat offset by challenging pricing conditions in North America professional lines, and a prudent underwriting stance on international casualty.
Growth in Europe was also strong at 8% on the back of favorable price effects and higher volumes, and in Asia Africa & EME-LATAM, commercial lines premiums grew 31% year-on-year, driven mostly by Turkey.
In personal lines, premiums rose 5% to €13.9 million, driven by motor and non-motor.
However, at AXA XL Reinsurance, premiums fell 3% year-on-year for 9M 2023 to €2.1 billion, which the firm attributes to lower premiums in property catastrophe reflecting a cut in exposure, which is in line with AXA’s strategy. This was partially offset by favorable pricing. Additionally, casualty and specialty premiums were up, mostly from favorable price effects.
AXA highlights the elevated natural catastrophe experience in the third quarter of 2023. Despite this, the insurer says that it’s still on track to be within its budget of 4 points of combined ratio for the year. The French insurer is also one of the first to provide an estimate for the impact of Hurricane Otis, providing a loss figure of around €200 million, before tax and net of reinsurance.
In its L&H segment, the insurer saw GWP & other revenues of €35.7 billion for 9M 2023, a dip of 2% year-on-year. In life, premiums were stable with higher sales of capital-light G/A savings products and growth in protection, offset by lower premiums in Unit-Linked, and lower sales of traditional G/A products.
In health, premiums fell 7% after the non-renewal of two large legacy international Group contracts in France. Excluding this, health premiums rose 7%.
Within L&H, NBV fell 4% to €1.7 billion, as the margin grew 0.2 points to 5.1% on the back of favourable market conditions, somewhat offset by the impact of assumption changes.
Turning to AXA’s asset management business, and assets under management (AUM) increased 1% to €842 million, although the average AUM fell 5% to €736 million, driven by unfavourable market effects.
Asset management revenues decreased 2% to €1.2 billion, mainly driven by lower recurring fees due to a decrease in average assets under management, says the firm.
Alban de Mailly Nesle, Chief Financial Officer of AXA, commented: “AXA achieved another very good performance in the first nine months of 2023. Revenue growth remained strong with good momentum in our technical and cash generative lines and across our two Commercial and Personal pillars.
“In P&C Commercial lines, which is our largest business, premiums were up 9% benefiting from good customer demand and disciplined pricing. In P&C Personal lines, we saw continued repricing with overall premiums now up 5%. Life & Health revenues were again of high quality with good organic growth across Protection, Capital-light G/A4 business and Health, although the environment remained challenging for Unit-Linked. The right-sizing of our non-prioritized businesses is now almost complete across Property Catastrophe Reinsurance, traditional G/A Savings, and some Group Health international contracts.
“Our model continues to deliver strong capital generation. AXA’s Solvency II ratio stood at 230% at the end of September, in particular reflecting our decision not to refinance over Euro 1 billion in subordinated debt.
“In line with our strategy, we continue to focus our footprint on our core markets where we have leading positions, while exiting non-core markets. The Group recently finalized the acquisition of Laya Healthcare, strengthening our leadership in Ireland, and agreed5 on the disposal of its joint venture Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co in India. We also remain confident in delivering our in-force management target6 by year-end.”
“The Group is on track to achieve its earnings outlook target for the year and fully deliver on its four main “Driving Progress 2023” financial targets7. AXA is in a position of strength ahead of launching its new Strategic Plan, which will be communicated on March 11, 2024.
“I would like to thank all our colleagues, agents and partners for their commitment and support, as well as our clients for their continued trust,” added the CFO.
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