Multinational insurance firm AXA has reported a gross revenue figure of €54 billion for H1 2021, marking a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent, just over half of which was derived from the property and casualty line of its reinsurance subsidiary, AXA XL. This increase was also attributed to continued favourable price effects, as well as growth in the insurer’s health and life and savings lines. In addition, underlying earnings increased by 101 percent to €3.6 billion, driven by an uptick in property and casualty reinsurance owing to the non-repeat of the impact of COVID-19 related claims and a strong underwriting result at AXA XL. On the basis of a preliminary estimate, the property and casualty segment calculated the impact of the July 2021 European floods to be €400 million, before tax and net of reinsurance. In AXA’s life and savings segment, AXA Hong Kong entered into a reinsurance transaction with Global Atlantic Assurance to reinsure a closed book of whole-life insurance policies, which is expected to cause a 2 percentage point increase in the group Solvency II ratio. The current Solvency II ratio is at 212 per cent, compared to 200 per cent for final year 2020. Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA, summarises: “Revenues and underlying earnings grew strongly across the group, in all geographies and business lines. This strong result was achieved across all our markets, and notably at AXA XL with very good underwriting performance.” “Taking advantage of the continued favourable pricing momentum, AXA XL is well positioned to deliver its €1.2 billion earnings target in 2021 and sustainable and profitable growth beyond,” he continues.
