Philippe Maso y Guell Rivet sets out his plans for profitable growth.
The new chief executive of AXA UK, Philippe Maso y Guell Rivet, has said he will overhaul the business over the next 12 months in the pursuit of profitable growth.
In his first interview since taking over from Peter Hubbard in April, Maso y Guell Rivet said he was working with his senior team to reassess the business.
He said: “In the very short term it will be about readjusting our strategy, we always said we would be advocating profitable growth. In profitable growth there is the word profitable, and without any particular conclusion, we want to make sure our operating model allows us to grow profitably. There’s no reason to be in any space that is not profitable.”
The former finance director also attacked private equity investment in brokers, saying it extracted value from the insurance market, and expressed reservations about the managing general agency model now being adopted by some brokers.
“We want to make sure our operating model allows us to grow profitably. There is no reason to be in any space that is not profitable.
He supported other insurers in recent statements that they would walk away from business rather than pay sky high commissions to consolidators.
Maso y Guell Rivet ruled out buying any more brokers until after the credit crunch, and insisted that VPL, AXA’s independent broking arm, would not become a tied agency.
Maso y Guell Rivet also acknowledged AXA’s well publicised service failings and promised to improve by putting the customer first.
See this week’s Insurance Times for the first interview with Philippe Maso y Guell Rivet in full.
