Insurer says cuts will not affect service
AXA Insurance has announced plans to cut 560 of its 3,500-strong workforce.
Chief executive Philippe Maso said the cuts were not linked to the recession, but the result of a 12-month review of the entire business.
Half the job losses will be redundancies; the rest will come through natural attrition and redeployment. No jobs will be lost from customer facing roles as AXA seeks to improve its service to brokers and customers. Otherwise, they will be spread across the business. Some will come from areas where AXA has reduced its activity – for example, in supporting MGAs – but the majority will be efficiency savings.
Maso said: “Over the past year I have communicated a lot about my strategic priorities and my intention to review our business activities to focus on customer-centricity, ownership and profitability.
“Today I am announcing important changes in our business which are a necessary step towards profitability. We must ensure we are growing the right areas of our business. To do this, we must move away from unsuccessful and unprofitable product lines and ensure our operating model is right.
“Being rigorous about our growth and cleansing our portfolio means that we have reviewed our operating model to ensure we are in the best shape possible. This will mean a reduction in roles in our business and although we have taken as much action as possible to reduce costs without impacting roles, some reduction was inevitable.
“Although I am sad that we had to take such extreme measures, I am utterly convinced they are right to build a stronger and more efficient business for the future.
“I look forward to leading this business forward in our chosen segments for our people, our customers and our profitability.”
