Axa XL plans Asia ‘acceleration’ as it looks to double portfolio by 2026
November 7 2024 by InsuranceAsia News
Axa XL is on track to achieving an ambition to double the size of its Asia portfolio as part of a five-year expansion strategy with continuing regional expansion, according to Gilles Fromageot, CEO, Asia.
“In Asia, we are growing quite significantly,” he told InsuranceAsia News at the 20th Singapore International Insurance Conference in Singapore.
“Our intention is to double the size of our portfolio between 2021 and 2026 and we are well on track. How do we double-down? It’s by expanding in different geographies, so we are growing first of all in our Singapore and Hong Kong hubs, and also beyond that. We plan to accelerate in India, and to collaborate even better with our GI sister companies in countries like China, Thailand, or Indonesia.”
“In the region, we see still growing demand for all lines of business because Asia is the worldwide economy engine. There is demand for construction; there is demand for political risk and trade credit because there is a lot of financing; there is growing demand in property because the size of the properties is increasing and the insured values are increasing; and semiconductors in Thailand remain very important for us.”
On the liability side of the fence too, Asia offers enticing prospects, according to Fromageot.
“Asia is exporting more and more to rest of the world, exporting more and more high-value goods. Higher value means higher complexity, which means higher liability. And then we see an increase in demand in lines such as cyber, as well as financial lines – especially D&O insurance as more and more Asia companies are listing in New York, and not only on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for example.”
“Many competitors can bring in capacity, but not that expertise in underwriting, not that claims capability, and the capacity to build and develop global programmes out of Asia.” Gilles Fromageot, AXA XL
“There is also a slightly growing demand for global programmes, captives, and these kind of solutions that Axa can provide,” he added.
“We are growing a lot in financial lines and specialty lines as a whole. The increase of trade, and marine trade in the region, is a very important opportunity for us and we are one of the largest cargo players in the region. Asia remains a very important growth opportunity for Axa XL in the world.”
Full service proposition
Fromageot added that key to the company’s value proposition is being able to underwrite out of Asia most of its product range “except a few very, very niche products that Axa XL can offer in other parts of the world, we can underwrite any single risk out of Asia. So that’s the property-casualty space, energy, construction, political risk, political violence, terrorism, marine cargo, marine hull, etc etc.”
However, Fromageot noted, more importantly for Axa XL is the ability to offer claims services across countries… and we can serve all clients from this region using local languages and the same time zone, not out of London or somewhere else. And I think this is a critical piece of our value proposition and our competitive advantage compared to many of our competitors.”
“Many competitors can bring in capacity, but not that expertise in underwriting, not that claims capability, and the capacity to build and develop global programmes out of Asia.”
Structured solutions
Also speaking to IAN was Todd Wilhelm, head of Specialty, Asia at Axa XL, who addressed the question of whether structured solutions – so much a talking point of last year’s SIRC – were still on the table for the wider regional market.
“I think there’s outward interest in structured solutions but not many deals being done,” he said, suggesting that while clients and brokers are actively exploring them not many are actually being executed, in part because the rate is relatively low, but also because these deals tend to be quite complex, and for many out there in the market managing such a change is challenging.
The relative volatility of such transaction is also a factor, he suggested: “Do people want to take that risk? They can make money out of it, but they can also lose money.”
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