EuroBusiness Media (EBM): AXA, a world leader in insurance and asset management, reports annual results for 2010. Henri de Castries, welcome. You are the Chairman & CEO of AXA. What are your comments on your annual results?
Henri de Castries (HC): Well, I think it’s a very solid set of results. We are proposing a 25% increase in the dividend, which is reflecting the solidity of these earnings. The adjusted earnings are up by nearly 20%. The balance sheet is a very solid one, if you look at the various solvency ratios. And if you look at the businesses one by one, you will see that they are improving, going in the right direction, that we have been increasing the margins and looking for additional sources of growth, even if overall the revenues are pretty stable. If you look at Property & Casualty, the current year combined ratio is improving, which is what we were trying to achieve, and we think this is going to continue into 2011. If you look at Life & Savings, margins have been going up very significantly; this is a reflection of the efforts we’ve made to re-price our products, to be more selective, to look for growth in various areas. Asset Management had a very difficult year, for various reasons. Despite significant outflows, the global assets under management are increasing, by 4%, and we have taken action to be sure that we will reverse the course there and go back to our previous successes. So overall, it has been a very busy year, but I think with solid results showing that we are well positioned for the future, and that AXA will emerge well from the turmoil we’ve seen in the previous years.
EBM: Beyond the numbers, what are your key takeaways from 2010?
HC: Well, 2010 has been overall a very busy year, as I said, with an environment which has not always been very easy, with the sovereign debt crisis, with decreasing interest rates until the end of the year. So it was a tough environment for us but despite that we’ve been very active. Active, as I said before, to improve our margins; active also to look for additional sources of growth in selected products or selected distribution areas, in the developed countries and also in new geographies. If you look at what we’ve done, we’ve been quite active in the emerging countries. As you know, we are in the process of completing the buy-out of our Australian minorities to become the only owner of our Southeast Asian assets. We have set up a joint venture with the largest Chinese bank, which we think is going to open up the doors for us to the Chinese consumers. We have penetrated a number of new emerging markets. So overall, a very active year with a very solid balance sheet and a very solid set of results.
EBM: What are your strategic priorities for 2011, and what is your outlook for the coming months?
HC: We have the feeling that the world economy is gradually improving, even if it remains overall fragile. But growth is picking up in the US, growth is staying high in the emerging markets, and even Europe doesn’t seem to be doing too badly. So we should benefit from that environment. The increase in long-term interest rates is also helpful for the Life & Savings activities. So, the view we have is that the environment, even if fragile, is gradually getting better. Our long-term strategic goals remain the same. We want to look for growth and improve our margins. We will stay focused on our key businesses, insurance and Asset Management. We will look for additional growth in insurance through selected products, selected distribution channels in developed countries. We will also look slightly more aggressively at new geographies. And I think, overall, we are very well positioned for the future because, remember, AXA is the first worldwide insurance brand and we have very strong positions in most of the key markets. So we look at the future with a reasonable dose of optimism.
EBM: Henri de Castries, Chairman & CEO of AXA, thank you very much.
HC: Thank you.
