Italy continues to be in the top ten most important markets for the French insurance company Axa. The Italian division of the group recorded total revenues of 2017 billion euros in 4,7, out of a total aggregate of 98,5 billion euros.
A fundamental contribution to Axa's performance in Italy – profit up 9% to 254 million euro – was the historic agreement with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, as Axa Italia CEO Patrick Cohen confirmed to Sole24Ore: “Mps is at the heart of Axa's strategy”.
"In bancassurance we had a particularly difficult first quarter of the year but the recovery was clear in the second - explained Cohen - so much so that the strong growth in unit linked (+70%) is mainly attributable to the banking channel". In particular, gross revenues linked to class III products rose by 70% to 917 million and, including investment contracts, premium income stood at 2,2 billion.
In 2017, general manager Gerald Harlin specified, "a 12% drop in the Axa-Mps joint venture" was recorded and this is directly related "to the bank's difficulties", however "the massive recapitalization by the Italian State has restored confidence” and the company is very “optimistic about the future”.
According to Cohen "the positive dynamics of the last few months confirm the goodness of this strategic relationship between Axa and Mps".
As for the French group, in 2017 Axa scored a record net profit of 6,2 billion euros, an increase of 7% compared to 5,8 billion in 2016 and the operating result improved by 6% to 6 billion.
