AXA Insurance wins 2 Middle East Awards
General Insurer of the Year & Medical Insurer of the Year

AXA Insurance Gulf has been awarded the prestigious General Insurer of the Year & the Medical Insurer of the Year at the Policy 5th Middle East Awards.

The Company won what is touted to be the two most popular awards at the ceremony. AXA was chosen for the General Insurer of the Year award because its submission demonstrated a coherent development strategy, highlighted product innovation, illustrated how the company responded to customer needs and delivered an enhanced quality of service. The submission also gave examples of the successful management of change, customer testimonials and showed how AXA proved its ability to meet the demands of the market.

The submission for Medical Insurer of the Year was also an overwhelming yet rewarding win. AXA was picked from a long list of expert Healthcare award contenders. The panel was looking for a company that could demonstrate a commitment to meeting diverse customer needs. Judges were also keen to see the manner in which the insurer responded to those needs even whilst meeting market demands, regulator guidelines and adhering to international standards. On top of giving its customers access to its global hospitals network, international expertise and a round the clock service, AXA has been labouring consistently to develop and adapt its medical product and services locally to meet and anticipate its customers’ needs. This award is therefore an important and positive signal for AXA and its customers.

The awards were given out at the Westin Hotel Mina Seyahi and were attended by around 180 delegates representing decision makers from Arab and international insurance and reinsurance companies, regulatory agencies, brokers and banks.

Alexis de Beauregard, Chief Officer, Marketing & Retail product offering accepted the General Insurer award for AXA Insurance Gulf. He said, “We are elated to receive this award and I am happy that our endeavours to strive for excellence in all our operations has paid off. These awards are very competitive with the best of the industry vying for the top spots. Therefore, this is a huge endorsement for us and we are further motivated to keep striving for excellence and presenting the best service and quality of products.”

Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, CEO, AXA Insurance Gulf commented “This is not the first time we have been awarded and we are happy that the market has recognised our efforts yet again. Our customers will be happy to know that we always put service excellence, integrity and product innovation at the top of our priority list. I am thankful to our partners and shareholders that support us and I also want to thank our customers for their business and their faith in us. More importantly, this accolade goes to our employees without whom this achievement would not have been possible - I am grateful to them for their hard work and commitment to the company and its customers. ”

Notes to the editor:
About AXA in the GCC
With a workforce of over 650 employees, 12 offices region-wide, more than 500,000 customers and a gross written premium of over US$ 445 million, AXA is the largest international insurer in the GCC offering a wide range of insurance products and services for corporate and individual customers. AXA Gulf was recently also awarded Insurer of the Year 2009 at the Gulf Insurance Awards.

About AXA group
AXA Group is a worldwide leader in Financial Protection. AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. For full year 2009, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 90.1 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,014 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2009.

The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISIN FR0000120628 – Bloomberg: CS FP – Reuters: AXAF.PA). The American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA.

For additional information, please contact:
Alexis de Beauregard/ Lianne Braganza-D’Sylva
AXA Gulf Marketing,
Tel: +971 4 4294050/ 4294054
Email: alexis.debeauregard@axa-gulf.com/ lianne.dsylva@axa-gulf.com