Daily briefing: Monday - Yet another Bluefin tease

Cue much excitement this weekend over the report that AXA was to sell Bluefin – quickly dampened when it transpired that the headline in the Sunday Telegraph related solely to its employee benefits business, Bluefin Advisory Services. This, we have been reassured, by Bluefin and AXA, is completely separate to the UK general insurance broking business run by Stuart Reid – of which there are no plans to dispose.

This apparent false alarm is the latest in a long line of ‘will they, won’t they?’ stories about AXA’s plans for Bluefin. There have long been many critics of AXA’s distribution strategy, who have been expecting a sale almost from the moment of purchase.

Former chief executive Philippe Maso fuelled such speculation in 2009 when he said he would sell Bluefin – for the right price. After his comments were met with a furore, there was a certain amount of backpedalling, and ever since, the AXA top brass have always been super careful to stress their commitment to Bluefin.

At the moment, that’s probably true. AXA’s commercial boss Amanda Blanc was known to be keen to include the broker in her empire. It offers a simple route to growth in a tough market, and in the nine months since she has been in post, AXA has substantially expanded its book with Bluefin. (Indeed, this has recently prompted accusations of bias by Hiscox, quickly denied.)

Moreover, AXA bought the businesses that make up Bluefin at the very top of the market. If it were to sell them now, it would have to take a significant writedown on its balance sheet – which would be a tough one to explain to Paris in the current economic climate.

So the proposed sale of Bluefin Advisory Services speaks more of AXA UK’s exit from the life market than a wider disposal strategy. But still – never say never…