Standard & Poor's (S&P) said it had downgraded the outlook for AXA Insurance UK, AXA Direct Insurance, and AXA General Insurance to negative from stable.
At the same time, S&P affirmed its A+ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on the companies.
S&P credit analyst Ashley Gill, said: "The outlook revisions reflect S&P's opinion that, given a likely deterioration of conditions in the UK insurance market going forward, AXA might not be able to recover its operating performance and maintain it at a level consistent with the current rating."
S&P said the ratings reflect the companies' strategic importance to the AXA group, and their good stand-alone business position, but are partially offset by weakened, although good, capitalisation and weak operating performance.
The ratings said it expected the combined ratio for the named subsidiaries to be worse than that of competitors for 2003, and at approximately 102% for 2004 and 2005. It warned that failure to achieve these levels could lead to a rating downgrade.
