Michael Yabantu, who has been with AXA since 2005, is joining Aviva in February as head of trading for the North.

The new Aviva hire has a proven track record for driving underwriting-led growth, and will bring with him nearly two decades of general insurance industry experience to the role. Most recently in charge of AXA’s Manchester and Newcastle trading teams, Yabantu also worked at Endsleigh Insurance Services and has extensive experience in sales and broking.

“With one of the largest footprints in the UK, we understand how important it is to give our regional brokers access to the tools and key decision-makers who can help them win and retain quality business,” explained Gareth Hemming, Aviva director of SME commercial lines. “It’s great to bring someone with Michael’s experience into the team and I’m delighted to be welcoming him to Aviva.”

The UK-based insurer, which recently upgraded its financial objectives, has streamlined in order to focus on markets where Aviva has high-quality franchises and can gain market share.

“After a few years of restructuring, our businesses are now high quality and we expect good, sustainable growth from each of them,” said group chief executive Mark Wilson last week. “We have improved the consistency and quality of our profits and so we are raising our expectations for earnings growth to more than 5% annually from 2019 onwards.”


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