Driving progress: Our ambition for 2023

I am proud to share our new strategic plan with you, which we presented to our employees and to our shareholders today: “Driving Progress 2023”. It is a call to action in line with our purpose, which puts protection and progress at the heart of everything we do. This plan is the result of the collective work carried out across the Group to define how to take AXA to the next step of its transformation by accelerating the shifts initiated four years ago and further adapting it to the evolving needs of our customers. The five priorities of our new plan will also ensure the continued solidity and resilience of our financial performance in an uncertain economic environment.

Over the past four years, we have built a simpler, more solid and focused AXA, which is closer to its customers. We are now well-positioned to serve some of the most pressing protection needs, the relevance of which have only been reaffirmed by the Covid-19 crisis, such as the protection and resilience of businesses and of our customers’ health.

Collective action has never been so important

The crisis has also shed light on the evolving nature of the systemic risks our societies are facing, whether climate change, cyber risk or pandemics. And while as insurers we are determined to fully play our role to help tackle these new risks, we believe that cooperation with broader ecosystems of public and private partners will become increasingly important. At AXA we will continue, through this new plan, to develop expertise and take strong actions to contribute to a more resilient world: for the first time, we have committed in our new plan to reduce the carbon footprint of our general assets by 20% in 2025, one step closer to bringing our investments to carbon neutrality by 2050.

To succeed in this new chapter, I know I can count on the dedication, the professionalism and the commitment of our 160,000 colleagues and distributors across the world.

I have now had the honor and pleasure of leading the AXA teams for over four years – and believe me, it has not always been an easy journey. I have seen the passion of our teams: for innovation, for entrepreneurship and for serving our customers. I know how much they cherish AXA’s deeply-rooted DNA of having a positive impact for society and the environment. I have been impressed by their resilience and their effectiveness in reacting to this year’s terrible crisis, and by the way they continue to serve our customers while fully adapting to remote working.

I know that once again, they will write a new and successful chapter of AXA’s story, making our purpose “Act for Human Progress by protecting what matters” a reality for all our stakeholders.