Intensifying competition across Asia is forcing rates down across most major business lines and putting pressure on insurers’ underwriting profits. AXA XL is responding to this by strengthening client partnership and looking at where its expertise can make most difference.
“The outlook for the Asia insurance market remains positive, supported by strong economic fundamentals, continued infrastructure investment and the region’s acceleration towards energy transition. For AXA XL, success will come from underwriting discipline, technical excellence and partnership,” says Sylvie Gleises, Regional Chief Executive Officer for Asia at the specialty insurer.
This means supporting clients with “data-driven insights, risk engineering [and] outstanding claims services, regardless of where the rate cycle moves”, she says.
Gleises was appointed to her current position in March, having spent nearly two decades with the French insurance group. Her previous role was Chief Executive Officer for Singapore.
“Asia’s growth is long-term, and so is ours,” says Gleises. “We are committed to being a trusted partner at every stage of the client journey, from underwriting to claims.”
Sylvie Gleises
Asia Regional Chief Executive Officer at AXA XLGrowing complexity
AXA XL’s latest risk outlook, published in October, highlights how a broad selection of different risks – climate, cyber, geopolitical tension and societal instability – are colliding to create significant risk management challenges.
“Asia, as the world’s manufacturing and logistics hub, sits right in the centre of this complexity,” says Gleises.
Such an environment has led to much more discerning clients, explains the Asia head. It is no longer just about providing coverage; insureds now want visibility and foresight into how cascading shocks could disrupt their value chains.
An insurer who “can connect the dots, be their long-term partner… and help [firms] prepare for the next disruption” will thrive in the region, even as competition becomes more intense, says Gleises.
In 2022, AXA XL rolled out a digital commercial platform, which allows clients to access a single, integrated view of exposure, claims and engineering data across regional operations. In September, the insurer added a web-based portal to the platform, providing clients with real-time data insights across multiple portfolios.
“AXA XL’s strength lies in blending global expertise with local insight,” says Gleises. “We draw on the technical depth of our underwriters, claims specialists and engineers, while collaborating closely with local AXA entities to tap on resources, knowledge and solutions.”
India
One of AXA XL’s strategic priorities in the region is India. According to Gleises, India’s gross written premiums have averaged a growth rate of 6.6% CAGR over the past five years. They are projected to keep growing at over 6%.
“The rising middle class and government focus on infrastructure and manufacturing support long-term market growth,” says Gleises.
Earlier this year AXA XL made a number of key appointments to its team there, including onboarding a new Chief Executive Officer, Alok Shukla.
Sylvie Gleises
Asia Regional Chief Executive Officer at AXA XL“We are establishing and continuously strengthening an empowered, technically proficient team—-across underwriting, claims, and operations—to ensure we can meet market needs,” she says.
However, lasting success in the country will take time, with aggressive local competition putting intense pressure on margins, according to Gleises. Other challenges in the market include diverse regulatory regimes across states, varying infrastructure standards and uneven risk awareness.
Once again, as elsewhere in Asia, Gleises hopes that her strategy to focus on value-added services for clients will be the right one.
“We are not rushing with a ‘big splash’ strategy, but to build credibility through technical consistency and client experience,” says Gleises. “We know the environment is not easy, but we are committed – to earn trust, to deliver reliably and to become a long-term sustainable partner.”
Beyond underwriting
A big part of AXA XL’s strategy — especially in Asia — is to shift the client relationship upstream, focusing on risk prevention and mitigation before a claim happens. Gleises knows that technical pricing and capacity are not enough to win business in a softening and increasingly competitive market.
“If there’s one message I would like to leave, it’s that AXA XL’s purpose goes beyond underwriting risk – we exist to enable progress. Every major breakthrough – in energy, infrastructure or technology – carries some level of uncertainty. Our mission at AXA XL is to help clients transform that uncertainty into opportunity,” says Gleises.
In a region like Asia, where growth and volatility go hand in hand, that role has never been more important.
“At the end of the day, risk is the currency of purpose,” says Gleises. “We are here not to protect what exists, but to help shape what is next.”
