Group chief executive Les Owen told the company’s annual meeting in Melbourne that revitalising the Australian and New Zealand businesses to stimulate sustainable and profitable revenue growth, particularly in the area of long term investment and superannuation, were one of his objectives this year.
New Zealand chief executive Ross McEwan says distribution was a top priority.
The company had been looking at this issue for some time and had been discussing it with the AXA advisers association for the past four months.
Currently it is looking at returning more towards the tied agency arrangement it disbanded a number of years ago.
He says the earlier decision to move away from the tied agency form of distribution was correct at the time because people wanted more independent and impartial advice.
Now customers were attracted to brand, so having agents working under the AXA banner made sense, he says.
AXA was also doing a major review of its product line up to make sure it had the right offerings available for customers.
McEwan says AXA was looking for segments and products which provided good growth and profit potential.
He says over recent years there has been little growth in the New Zealand market. Much of the business which has been done is just switching. For instance people with traditional policies such as whole of life have moved to shorter term term life and income protection products.
Likewise in the health market the number of people covered hasn't grown, rather those insured have shifted their policies. The same story is evident in the investment market.
McEwan says AXA is about to launch a wholesale master trust as this is one area where there has been growth.
AXA's product review is expected to be finished in a couple of month's time.
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