AXA expands operations in Africa by launching a Lloyd’s specialty insurance venture with Chaucer

• AXA to enter the African specialty insurance market
• AXA to partner with Chaucer, a Lloyd’s specialty insurance group

AXA is targeting the rapidly expanding market for African specialty insurance by partnering with Chaucer, a Lloyd’s specialty insurance group. The new venture, named AXA Africa Specialty Risks, will be dedicated to covering specialty insurance lines in Africa, covering business such as political risks, energy and infrastructures.

Both partners are strongly complementary: AXA will bring to the partnership its marketing capabilities, a strong distribution network - AXA is already present in eight African countries - as well as the first global brand in the insurance sector, as ranked by Interbrand (1). Chaucer has strategic alignment towards specialty insurance, strong Lloyd’s underwriting expertise, extensive partnership management experience and established relationships with corporate clients, banks and business producers.

The partnership will initially involve AXA’s new Lloyd’s Special Purpose Syndicate 6130 sharing business with Chaucer’s established Syndicate 1084. AXA will continue to work with Chaucer to develop the ability to establish its own Lloyd's business in the future.

This venture is a further step in the development of AXA’s strategy in Africa. Since 2014, AXA has been particularly active through acquisitions and partnerships, including its acquisition in 2014 of 77% of the composite insurance company AXA Mansard plc in Nigeria, its partnership in 2015 with the IFC-World Bank to develop parametric insurance and its acquisition of a 7.15% stake in African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), the leading reinsurance company in Africa. In September 2015, AXA also acquired 18.6% stake in Eranove, a leading West African utility company. In November 2015, AXA launched a ten-year Life & Savings exclusive bancassurance agreement with Commercial International Bank (CIB), the number one private-sector bank in Egypt, and acquired its Commercial International Life Insurance Company. Then, in February 2016, AXA announced a partnership with Africa Internet Group, a leading e-commerce group in Africa, whereby AXA will become the exclusive provider of insurance products and services through Jumia and other AIG online and mobile platforms in Africa. AXA also invested Euro 75 million investment in AIG to become one of the shareholders.

As of today, AXA´s presence in Africa consists of operations in 8 countries: Algeria (#11 in P&C; #3 in Life), Cameroon (#4 in P&C), Egypt (#4 in Life), Gabon (#5 in P&C), Ivory Coast (#4 in P&C), Morocco (#3 in P&C; #5 in Life), Nigeria (#3 in P&C; #6 in Life), as well as in Senegal (#1 in P&C) (2).

(1) The Best Global Brands ranking calculates the value of a brand based on three criteria: its financial performance, the strength of its brand and the role of the brand in the purchase of products and services. See more: http://www.interbrand.com/

(2) Sources for rankings: Algeria: based on Insurance National Council - 2015, Cameroon: based on ASAC - 2015; Egypt: EFSA annual report 2014-2015, Gabon: based on FEGASA - 2015; Ivory Coast: based on ASA-CI - 2015, Morocco: based on Moroccan Federation of Insurance Companies (FMSAR) - 2015; Nigeria: based on NIA Digest - 2014, various companies websites and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Senegal: based on FSSA - 2015.