Focused and future-ready Axa XL has a new local chief, and refreshed growth ambitions for Australia By John Deex
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iant global insurer Axa XL’s commitment to Australia hasn’t faltered – but like many of its peers it’s gone through a period of remediation as the market hardened and catastrophes piled up. Now it’s looking ahead with optimism, with new local leadership in place and greater recognition within the Axa Group. After a recent change, Australia reports into the Asia-Pacific and Europe business unit, and it’s the third largest country within that unit in terms of gross written premium, behind France and Germany. Last year former Australia country head Robin Johnson left the business, and regional leader APAC Craig Langham is also moving on. Former head of claims APAC Catherine Carlyon has now taken control of local operations, starting on August 1 as Country Manager Australia. Ms Carlyon believes her strong claims background and international experience stands her in good stead, and she sees a wealth of opportunity ahead. The local operation, with its 170-strong team, is critical to Axa XL’s multi-national programs, but there’s a strong producing office too. “Our most significant lines are property casualty and financial lines, but we’ve got a growing presence in the marine business here,” she tells Insurance News. “And then a whole suite of specialty lines, including things like political risk and trade credit, fine arts, business continuity and other crisis management lines. “We have started to offer things like parametric insurance, where we’re able to pull in products that have originally started elsewhere within Axa, but we’re able
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to offer them now within Australia.” Axa XL also owns the Brooklyn Underwriting agency, and provides capacity for other agencies too, giving access to the SME market above and beyond its traditional corporate focus. Following several years of rapid growth with a “top line focus”, Ms Carlyon describes the current insurance environment as “challenging”, even though the hard market “is possibly tapering a bit”. There has been significant remediation within the property and financial lines portfolios, and Axa XL also withdrew from its private client ultra-high-net worth business, but now the company is in a position to move forwards. “It has been challenging – whether it’s bushfire, hailstorm, COVID with the non-damage business interruption test cases ongoing, the class action environment, tightening regulations, all of that. “It’s been tough conditions but we focused on making changes to those product lines – probably not too dissimilar to many of our peers as well.” Ms Carlyon does not shy away from tough decisions, with delivering on profit and loss now her responsibility. But she notes that neither brokers nor customers like uncertainty. “P&L is my remit and we will have to continue to look at making sure that we’re driving that going forward. “But one of the things that I’m also very aware of is that nobody likes any surprises. “It’s important that we build out real partnerships with our brokers and make sure that whatever we’re
