Insurer makes a number of appointments to commercial business.
AXA Insurance is strengthening its broker facing commercial business to ensure a much clearer focus on sales and service, it has announced.
The insurer said the move runs in parallel to a continuing programme of remodelling its branch operations to focus on delivering consistently for customers, and underlines its commitment to expanding in the intermediary market.
Keith Hector is appointed to the new role of commercial distribution director and will ensure that trading and relationship management delivery reflects the needs of AXA’s diverse customer base. Keith has been at AXA for a number of years and most recently has been responsible for significant growth in AXA’s personal lines sales operation. His commercial sales team will be split into four customer focussed sections.
Strategic Partners will be headed up by Martyn Grime. A new account management team will be responsible for the strategic development of AXA’s relationships with its largest consolidator, network and national broker clients.
Karen Osborne, head of Distribution Partners, will drive AXA’s proposition for large independent brokers.
Commercial Partners will continue to be headed up by Andy Halstead. The Commercial Partner Centre, which is based in Bolton, provides a tailored service for small to medium sized regional and community brokers, where speed and efficiency combined with direct access to underwriting decision makers is of the essence.
In addition to these changes, a new business unit will be created to support AXA’s growth plans. This team will spearhead and streamline deal making and delivery across all commercial lines activity.
Dave Gill is appointed customer delivery director and will assume overall responsibility for all of AXA’s Commercial branch operations managing day to day trading and broker service delivery.
Mike Philips will continue to head AXA’s specialist markets unit, focussed on the continued development of property owners business and management of delegated authorities. Underwriting in AXA Insurance now reports directly into each business unit and Roy Watkinson will continue to head up commercial underwriting, reporting to Anthony Middle.
Anthony Middle, managing director of AXA Commercial Lines Intermediary, said: “We have listened hard to what our customers have told us and these moves will make it much easier for us to deliver to them consistently, whilst energising our distribution effort. We’ve invested in areas that matter to brokers and we have more underwriters available to all our customer groups. We are focussed on developing the right trading relationships between AXA and our broker customers”.
