Valentine's Day start for AXA's Amanda Blanc

Amanda Blanc will begin her role as chief executive of AXA UK’s commercial lines business on Monday 14 February 2011 - Valentine's Day - the insurer has confirmed.

Blanc left Towergate, where she was deputy chief executive, last month to rejoin AXA.

Blanc said: “AXA is a hugely successful worldwide brand yet it still has some way to go to reinforce its credentials and expertise within the commercial lines market.

"I see this as a great challenge as well as a great opportunity and believe that the combination of the expertise within Bluefin and AXA provide the makings of a platform to achieve this."

Blanc will have overall responsibility for AXA UK’s commercial lines business, including its distribution arm Bluefin Insurance Group.

She will report directly to Paul Evans, group chief executive of AXA UK, and will become a member of the AXA UK executive committee and of the AXA UK board.

She added: “I will be spending some time at first listening to staff, brokers and customers to ensure that I fully understand what is good – and where improvements need to be made.

"After that, I will quickly set about building a customer focussed and dynamic organisation that delivers on its promises and achieves AXA’s ambitions for the UK commercial insurance market”.