Francois Pierson to Fully Dedicate Himself to His Role of Global Head of AXA's P&C Insurance Operations

PARIS, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AXA announced today that Francois Pierson will fully dedicate himself to his role of Global Head of AXA's P&C insurance operations and that Nicolas Moreau will become Chief Executive Officer of AXA France. Paul Evans will become Chief Executive Officer of AXA UK and will join AXA's Executive Committee. These appointments will be effective from October 1st 2010.

Commenting on these appointments, Henri de Castries, Chairman and CEO of AXA said:

"Francois Pierson has done a fantastic job at the helm of AXA France, and I am very pleased that our P&C operations across the world will now fully benefit from his expertise and his vision."

"Over his 19 year experience at AXA, Nicolas Moreau has shown great leadership and strategic insight. I am convinced he will leverage his very deep knowledge of the Group and its values to successfully continue to develop AXA in France and to continuously improve the quality of the services we provide to our 9 million clients."

The Executive Committee is also very happy to welcome Paul Evans. He has been instrumental in the repositioning of our UK life operations and I am sure he will succeed in his new role."

Francois Pierson, a member of AXA's Management Committee, has been Chairman and CEO of AXA France since 2001 and is, since January 2010, Global Head of AXA's P&C insurance operations, in charge of defining strategy, setting goals and managing the operational convergence of AXA's property & casualty businesses. In this role, he will keep the direct management responsibility of AXA Assistance, AXA Corporate Solutions, AXA Global Direct and AXA Canada.

Nicolas Moreau, a member of AXA's Management Committee, has been CEO of AXA UK since 2006, in charge of AXA's life & savings, property & casualty and health insurance activities in the UK and Ireland, for which he successfully led a strategic repositioning towards the most attractive market segments.

Paul Evans, currently deputy CEO of AXA UK, will become CEO of AXA UK. He has been in charge of AXA UK's life & savings operations between 2003 and 2010, and successfully managed the integration of Winterthur in the UK and developed the wealth management and multi-manager operations, which are key elements of AXA's future development of the UK life & savings market.

Paul Evans will join AXA's Executive Committee following this appointment.

These appointments are aligned with AXA's new organization which was presented in November 2009 and is based on three global business lines (P&C, life & savings and asset management) and six countries and regions (France ; the US ; Asia-Pacific ; Northern Central & Eastern Europe ; Mediterranean and Latin American region ; the UK & Ireland).

Biographies

Francois Pierson

Francois Pierson (63) joined AGP in 1974 and became sales Director. In 1990, he became General Manager of the South-East Region of AXA Assurances in France and director of distribution. In 1995, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of AXA Assurances. In 1997, following the merger with UAP, he became Chief Executive Officer of AXA Conseil, and, in 1999, of AXA Assurances. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of AXA France and joined the Management Board of AXA in November 2001. He was appointed to the Management Committee of AXA following the change in the Group's governance structure in April 2010. In January 2010, Francois Pierson took global responsibility for the Group's property & casualty insurance businesses. He will fully dedicate himself to this role from October 1st, 2010, while keeping direct management responsibility of AXA Assistance, AXA Corporate Solutions, AXA Global Direct and AXA Canada.

Francois Pierson graduated from University Paris Dauphine where he studied Sciences and Management.

Nicolas Moreau

Nicolas Moreau (45) started his career in 1988 as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in Paris. In 1991, he joined AXA as Vice-President of the Finance Department and was appointed Head of Group Corporate Finance and Treasury Department in 1994. In 1997, Nicolas Moreau joined AXA Investment Managers and became Chief Operating Officer in March 2000. In April 2002, he was promoted as Chief Executive Officer of AXA Investment Managers and, following his appointment as Group Chief Executive Officer of AXA UK, he became non-executive Chairman of the Board of AXA Investment Managers. Nicolas Moreau was appointed to the Board of AXA UK plc in July 2006. Since April 2010, Nicolas Moreau has been a member of the AXA Management Committee. He will become Chief Executive Officer of AXA France from October 1st, 2010.

Nicolas Moreau is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and has an actuary's degree from the Centre d'Etudes Actuarielles in Paris.

Paul Evans

Paul Evans (45) joined AXA UK in January 2000 following a 13-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and Toronto, Canada, where he spent two years. He was appointed Chief Executive of AXA Life UK in May 2003 and Deputy Group CEO, AXA UK in June 2010. Paul was previously Group Finance Director of AXA UK, responsible for finance, treasury, taxation, strategy and procurement. Paul is a member of the Board of AXA UK plc. He will become Chief Executive Officer of AXA UK from October 1st, 2010 and will join AXA's Executive Committee from that date.

Paul Evans graduated from Imperial College London, having obtained a BSc in Mathematics. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and of the Life Insurance Committee of the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

About AXA

AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 216.000 employees serving 96 million clients in 57 countries. For full year 2009, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 90.1 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,015 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). AXA's American Depository Shares are also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.

The Group is included in the three main international SRI indexes: Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), FTSE4GOOD and Advanced Sustainability Performance Indices (Aspi Eurozone).

This press release is available on the AXA Group website: www.axa.com

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION AND CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the section "Cautionary statements" in page 2 of AXA's Document de Reference for the year ended December 31, 2009, for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect AXA's business. AXA undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.

SOURCE AXA Group