The joint venture, called ICBC-Axa Life, is between ICBC, Axa and Minmetals, with its new headquarters in Shanghai. It has offices in more than twenty Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and ICBC brings to the venture a customer base of 282m individual customers and 4.1m corporate clients.
Henri de Castries, chairman and chief executive of AXA, said that the venture is a “key milestone in the history of Axa in Asia” and he added that “Axa will be able to tap into the broad expertise and experience of its new partner ICBC and bring innovative and customized insurance solutions to Chinese customers.”
ICBC has appointed Sun Chiping as the chairman of the board of ICBC-Axa Life, while Axa has appointed Jamie McCarry to continue to serve as president, in charge of the day-to-day business operations of the company.
ICBC-AXA Life succeeds Axa-Minmetals Assurance, established in 1999. In 2010, ICBC bought 60% of shares of Axa-Minmetals and became the majority shareholder of the company. Axa owns 27.5% and Minmetals owns 12.5%.
