Consolidation trend
Further consolidation in the international life industry was predicted during the CEO main platform roundtable at International Adviser’s 10th anniversary FundLinks Forum last September.
At the time, Mike Foy, managing director of Axa Wealth International, did not respond to speculation that French insurer Axa Group may be looking to sell off all of its UK businesses.
Foy also pointed out during the debate that he had “worked for Axa for 16 years, a huge global group bringing huge benefits. We’ve had a flat UK market, we’ve written 4% of our volume out of Hong Kong and that’s entirely because we have a local business in Hong Kong”.
More sales expected
The Axa announcement of today’s sale follows a report in The Financial Times late last week that the French insurance giant was close to its Sun Life unit to the Phoenix Group, a UK insurer, for around £500m ($717m, €634m).
The possible sale of Axa’s UK life insurance and wealth investment units has been a subject of speculation in the industry for some time with media reports suggesting the company had hired Barclays and Fenchurch Advisory Partners to help it sell off parts of the Axa Wealth operation and other blocks of business too.
Axa operates a range of business in the UK, including Axa Wealth, which includes investment manager Architas and the platform Axa Elevate, the private medical insurer Axa PPP Healthcare, and the general insurer Axa Direct and Partnerships.
Standard Life is understood to be bidding for Axa’s Elevate, a platform that helps UK IFAs manage client investments.
The sale of Axa Isle of Man is the latest move towards a consolidation in the international life industry among European insurers as low interest rates and the new Solvency II capital push them to adjust their business models and offload less profitable units.
Earlier this month, Dutch-headquartered life group Aegon agreed to sell two-thirds of its UK annuity book, worth £6bn, to insurer Rothesay Life.
