Life insurance sell off hits profits at AXA

A sharp fall in profits at insurance giant AXA has been blamed on its sale of its life insurance division, AXA Sun Life, to Friends Provident last September. The insurer, which employs about 1,000 staff in the UK, announced underlying earnings of GBP131 million for 2010, down from the GBP235 million reported the previous year.

The GBP2.75 billion AXA Sun Life sell off was part of a restructuring programme, which resulted in four specialist units, personal insurance, commercial insurance, healthcare and wealth management, in an attempt to focus on the demands of both consumers and intermediaries .

AXA has also stated that it expects further rises in premiums for personal insurance products over this year as the market worked towards restoring profitability.

Paul Evans, group chief executive for AXA UK and Ireland, commented "Our priority for 2011 is to focus on delivering great service and valued products to consumers and businesses in those markets where AXA can leverage real competitive advantage."

French-owned AXA said that the operating ratio in 2010 was disappointing, but that greater improvements would come during this year as premium increases applied across personal lines in 2010 took effect. However, they recently warned there would be possible redundancies at their Ipswich office due to the separation of its commercial and personal lines operations.