AXA’s property and casualty premiums rose 3% in the first nine months of 2026, but its large commercial and reinsurance unit, AXA XL, continued to shrink as it pulled back in softening markets.
P&C gross written premiums and other revenues reached €48.1bn on a comparable basis, according to AXA’s nine-month activity indicators, published on 29 October. Personal lines drove the growth, rising 7% to €17.2bn, and retail P&C and commercial business outside AXA XL grew 6% in aggregate. Group-wide premiums and other revenues rose 5% to €93bn.
AXA XL’s insurance business shrank 1%, with prices down 1%, higher volumes in property and lower volumes in casualty, which AXA described as disciplined cycle management in a softening market. AXA XL Reinsurance premiums fell 9% to €2.2bn, which AXA also attributed to discipline in softer conditions. IB US has more on the results.
AXA said natural catastrophe losses for the nine months were above its prorated annual budget of 4.5 points of combined ratio, citing elevated secondary peril activity, mainly in France, Switzerland and Italy. Catastrophe data provider PERILS put insured losses from the late-August Raphaela hailstorms in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy at €3.3bn, following €2.2bn from storms in the same countries in July.
New Zealand knows the cost of so-called secondary perils. The Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023 were separately the two largest weather-related insurance events in the country’s history, according to the ICNZ. Together with other North Island weather events that year, they took the industry’s estimate of 2023 climate-related claims to around $3.56bn by September 2023.
AXA’s Solvency II ratio fell to 213% at the end of September from 218% at the end of June. AXA said strong operating returns were more than offset by dividend accruals, share buybacks and unfavourable market movements. It still expects full-year underlying earnings of around €8.6bn.
New Zealand insurers depend heavily on global reinsurers to cover their catastrophe exposure, so the stance of major reinsurers matters locally. AXA XL Re’s 9% contraction shows that even as reinsurance markets soften, some carriers are choosing discipline over volume.
With Europe’s hail losses adding to the global record of costly secondary perils, reinsurers are likely to keep scrutinising flood and storm exposures, aggregation and retentions, an area where New Zealand’s 2023 experience still weighs on how its risk is viewed. For brokers placing large commercial and specialty risks, AXA XL’s results also point to a market where at least one major carrier won’t follow prices down, particularly in casualty.
