AXA XL Reinsurance, the reinsurance arm of French insurer AXA’s property, casualty and specialty risk division, reported gross written premiums and other revenues of €1.8 billion for the first half of 2026, down 9% year on year, reflecting lower volumes as the firm maintained its focus on profitability in a softer market environment, with pricing declining by 5%.
The pullback in reinsurance formed part of a broader cycle-management strategy within AXA XL, where total division earnings still expanded 4% at constant foreign exchange rates to €994 million in H1 2026.
Underlying technical performance across the entire Property & Casualty (P&C) business was further impacted by €0.1 billion of losses in the Middle East within AXA XL Insurance, adding 1.1 percentage points to the unit’s loss ratio and 0.4 percentage points to the firm’s overall P&C loss ratio.
Despite these headwinds, total P&C gross written premiums grew 3% year over year to €35.1 billion in H1 2026, buoyed by an 8% expansion in Personal lines to €12 billion and a 1% gain in Commercial lines to €21.3 billion.
Meanwhile, P&C underlying earnings advanced 6% to €3.2 billion in the first half of the year, supported by higher underwriting results and increased financial income, while the all-year combined ratio held at 90.1% with natural catastrophe charges remaining stable at 3.5 percentage points.
At the same time, AXA’s Life & Health operations delivered double-digit earnings growth, generating an 8% rise in gross written premiums to €31.2 billion in H1 2026.
Top-line momentum was led by a 9% increase in Life revenues to €20.4 billion and a 6% rise in Health revenues to €10.8 billion, pushing Life & Health underlying earnings up 11% to €2 billion.
On a consolidated basis, AXA’s total gross written premiums and other revenues climbed 5% on a comparable basis to €66.3 billion, lifting underlying earnings by 4% to €4.5 billion, or 9% when excluding the sold AXA Investment Managers business.
The firm’s net income expanded 9% at constant exchange rates to €4.2 billion, while underlying earnings per share increased 8% to €2.19.
Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer of AXA, commented on the figures, “AXA delivered outstanding performance in the first half of 2026, with growth in underlying earnings per share at the top end of our target range of 6% to 8% while further strengthening our reserve prudence.
These results confirm AXA’s positioning as an all-weather company able to navigate changing market conditions. In P&C, our Retail and Commercial lines ex-XL businesses continued to expand their customer base while further improving their best-in-class margins.
“At AXA XL, earnings grew by +4%, demonstrating disciplined cycle management through agile redeployment towards the most profitable business lines. Life & Health earnings rose by +11%, reflecting the impact of management actions across the Health & Protection businesses and solid growth in earnings in our long-term savings business.
“This excellent performance shows the strength of our multi-line, globally diversified model, with growth in Life increasingly balancing the growth in P&C. We recorded sustained positive net flows in Life & Savings, which will support higher earnings generation over time. This performance was further amplified by continued progress on efficiency gains, notably from our technology and AI initiatives.
“Building on this excellent momentum and the resilience of our diversified business, underpinned by prudent reserving and a high-quality investment portfolio, we are confident in our ability to deliver underlying earnings per share growth in 2026 at the upper end of our target range, and to sustain organic growth with strong profitability beyond the current plan.
“I would like to thank all our colleagues, agents and partners for their commitment, as well as our customers for their continued trust.”
