standards
AXA is determined to grow its share of mid-market
commercial insurance business across a range of key trade
segments. To achieve this aim, we know we have to offer
a mid-market proposition that is attractive to both you and
your customers. With the creation of AXA Vantage, we firmly
believe we have a compelling mid-market proposition to rival
any of our competitors.
Amanda Blanc
CEO, AXA UK & Ireland General Insurance
Contents
AXA Vantage – our mid-market proposition at a glance
Introducing AXA Vantage – our proposition for mid-market
Branch Network and Trading Tools
Demonstrating our mid-market expertise – case studies
Claims Excellence and Transparency
How our Risk Management can enhance the service you offer?
Value Added Services
Your key mid-market contacts
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
AXA Vantage – our mid-market proposition at a glance
Introducing AXA Vantage
Branch Network
Value Added Services
Claims Excellence
We recognise and understand
that when you place your
customer’s mid-market business,
you need more from your insurer
than just a good product at a
competitive price.
¡¡ Every one of our 12 branches has specialist
mid-market knowledge across a variety of
trade sectors.
We’ve introduced a fantastic range of value
added services for you and your clients:
AXA is ranked 1st amongst its peer group
of large composite insurers for mid-market
Claims service quality by Gracechurch
Consulting.
That’s why we’ve created AXA
Vantage, our exciting proposition
for mid-market commercial
business between £10k and
£100k.
Here we outline the key
components of our proposition
which we believe demonstrate
our significant appetite and
expertise in mid-market.
¡¡ We have given unprecedented levels of
empowerment to our branches to make
decisions locally.
¡¡ Individual case level support will be
provided to help you secure the right
mid-market case
Mid-market brokers and clients can expect
a first-class service from their dedicated
Claims Relationships Manager and our trusted
external partnerships. Our commitment to
claims transparency ensures that customers
have the best possible experience with our
award-winning Claims team in the event of
a claim.
¡¡ We welcome the opportunity to meet
with your key clients to create mutually
beneficial tripartite relationships.
¡¡ We can offer selected brokers CII
accredited structured learning through
seminars, training and workshops as well
as mid-market events
¡¡ We will commit to having a meaningful
dialogue with you within 48 hours of
receiving your mid-market enquiry.
¡¡ We offer you access to digital tools and
marketing consultancy delivered by Ignition,
AXA’s wholly-owned marketing agency.
Risk Management
Trading Tools
Get in touch
We help you manage your own risks by
minimising your clients’ exposure to the risks
they face working in their sector.
Our branches are empowered to apply a
number of trading tools including:
Unlike other insurers, we don’t outsource our
Risk Management service. This means that
our Surveyors can build strong relationships
with you and ensure that we are consistent
and focussed in our approach and delivery of
risk assessments.
¡¡ Net Rating
¡¡ Risk Management
Fund
We have an extensive range of competitive
products and solutions designed for your midmarket clients, from easy-to-trade online products
to bespoke wordings and cover extensions.
¡¡ Long Term
Agreements
¡¡ Flexible
Instalment Plans
¡¡ Low Claims Rebates
¡¡ Rate Stability
Agreements.
¡¡ Exclusives
¡¡ Tripartite
Agreements
To arrange a meeting to discuss specific
mid-market opportunities or for more information,
please get in touch.
Contact your local branch Sales Manager.
Introducing AXA Vantage – our proposition for mid-market
That’s why we’ve created AXA Vantage,
our exciting proposition for mid-market
commercial business with premiums
between £10k and £100k.
AXA Vantage offers your mid-market clients tailored, trade specific
products, supported by an award-winning and transparent Claims
service, a market-leading in-house Risk Management service as well as
a host of unique value added services.
10,500
AXA UK
APPROX
We recognise and understand
that when you write your clients’
mid-market business, you need more
from your insurer than just a good
product at a competitive price.
EMPLOYEES
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
¡¡ Trade specific underwriting expertise and knowledge
¡¡ A desire to trade, with increased local empowerment to write,
trade and provide tailored customer service
¡¡ Awarded the prestigious 3-star award for ‘exceptional’ customer
service by Investor in Customers (IIC)
¡¡ Ranked in the Top 3 for mid-market claims service quality by
Gracechurch Consulting in 2014
¡¡ AXA was one of the first insurers to achieve Chartered Insurer status
from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) in 2011
¡¡ Valuable broker support and trade specific training available
10 MILLION
CUSTOMERS
¡¡ Ranked No.1 in Brokerbility’s insurer performance survey for the
12th consecutive time in 2015
¡¡ Award-winning Claims service delivering award-winning initiatives
¡¡ Ranked the largest insurer in the world by GWP by global ratings
agency AM Best
¡¡ Rated A+ with a positive outlook by Standard & Poor’s in
October 2015
To help you secure more mid-market business and to make client
conversations easier, we’ve changed our underwriting structure. We
are now aligned to specific trade segments including Construction,
Manufacturing and Real Estate. Our underwriters will be empowered to
use a host of trading tools like mid-market exclusivity, net-rating, and
renewal term agreements to help you secure business.
Finally, underpinning everything we do, is our brand. As a leading,
global insurer with a stable and secure financial rating, we believe AXA
has great appeal to both brokers and clients operating in the
mid-market space.
Why should you place mid-market
business with AXA?
¡¡ Winner of the Commercial Insurer of the Year award at the 2015
Insurance Times Awards
AXA, ranked the No.1 global
insurance brand by Interbrand
from 2009 to 2015
Shared expertise across 59 countries, 161,000
employees and 103 million customers worldwide.
Branch Network and Trading Tools
Given our focus on mid-market,
every branch location has specialist
mid-market knowledge across a variety
of trade sectors. This ensures we
deliver a first-class service on the wide
range of mid-market enquiries we receive.
A global insurer with a true regional presence
¡¡ We are truly committed to regional brokers, demonstrated
by our extensive branch network across the UK. In recent
years, while other insurers have scaled back their regional
presence,AXA has opened new branches in Newcastle,
Maidstone, Bristol and Cardiff.
Local mid-market experience and expertise
¡¡ We are proud of the significant
experience and expertise that
exists within each and every
one of our 12 branches. We
believe the level of service
provided by our local branch
teams is second-to-none.
The Brokerbility Insurer
Performance Survey endorses
that view by ranking AXA
number one for service for the
twelfth consecutive time.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
Local decision making authority
¡¡ We know you want branch underwriters to make local
underwriting decisions without unnecessary referral into the
AXA Head Office. So, to speed up the mid-market underwriting
process, we have given unprecedented levels of empowerment
to our branches to make decisions locally.
Committed to developing relationships
¡¡ To help develop closer relationships and aid mid-market
business acquisition, we welcome the opportunity to meet
with your key clients and prospects to create mutually
beneficial tripartite relationships.
Delivering service excellence
¡¡ We know it’s really important for you and your clients that we
respond quickly to your mid-market submissions. That’s why
we will commit to having an initial and meaningful dialogue
with you within 48 hours of receiving your mid-market enquiry.
Trading Tools
To help you win mid-market business, our branches have the
authority to apply a number of trading tools including:
¡¡ Exclusives
¡¡ Tripartite Agreements
¡¡ Net Rating
¡¡ Flexible Instalment Plans
¡¡ Long Term Agreements ¡¡ Rate Stability Agreements
¡¡ Low Claims Rebates
¡¡ Risk Management Funds.
Demonstrating our mid-market
expertise
Mid-market Manufacturing case study,
AXA Birmingham Branch
Our close working relationship with Willis yielded a mid-market
manufacturing opportunity combining three policies; Commercial
Combined, Contract Works and Motor Fleet.
We were impressed by AXA Birmingham’s ability to
react quickly to give us a clear understanding of their
appetite for this mid-market opportunity.
The client was keen to appoint an insurer who truly understood their
industry sector and could deliver the three products they required. Our
knowledge and expertise within the Manufacturing sector coupled with
our excellent products and competitiveness gave Willis the necessary
confidence to place the business with our AXA Birmingham Branch.
AXA’s speed of response and ‘can do’ attitude provided
us with enough reason to place the business with them.
Moving forward we now have confidence that AXA can
be a viable player in the mid-market sector and are
currently working on a number of other mid-market
opportunities with them.
Willis
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
Demonstrating our mid-market
expertise
Mid-market Real Estate case study,
AXA Manchester Branch
As a leading insurer in the Real Estate sector, AXA was asked by the
broker to assess the Real Estate portfolio of an important client. We
quickly made it clear to the broker and the client that we had significant
appetite to write the risk.
Initial difficulties were overcome when our Risk Control team was
able to respond quickly and provide pre-cover survey reports enabling
underwriters to provide competitive terms.
A joint AXA/Broker presentation to the client was arranged and covered
all areas of concern: consistency of underwriting, service levels for
documentation, our nominated adjuster panel, our risk control expertise,
claims expertise and transparent pricing. The client was very impressed
by our desire to operate in a true tripartite partnership to achieve
sustainable profit.
At the end of the meeting the client, without any premium incentive,
signed his account to the broker in question and AXA.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
The decision to run with AXA was straightforward as
they showed (at an early stage) a great appreciation
of the needs of the client and true expertise in dealing
with Real Estate, even down to keeping the location
premiums consistent with those already charged by
the previous insurer. AXA was confident that they could
deliver and it was agreed that we would ‘win it together’.
The Claims Relationship Manager was confident and
well informed on service levels, the ‘One & Done’
initiative and was able to robustly defend GAB Robins
ability to react during surge periods – brilliant!
Backhouse Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Demonstrating our mid-market
expertise
Mid-market Engineering case study,
AXA Leeds Branch
The AXA Leeds Branch quickly expressed significant appetite for
this particular mid-market Manufacturing case and kept in regular
contact with the broker throughout the process. The broker, in
turn, kept the AXA team updated on the progress of the deal and
subsequently gave their commitment to work with us. To ensure the
broker was fully prepared, the terms were distributed the day before
the broker’s meeting with the client. At this point, no other quotes
had been received from the rest of the market. Our close existing
working relationship coupled with our proactivity from the outset
helped us to secure the business.
Our flexible underwriting approach and ability to solve problems
quickly and effectively was pleasing to both the broker and the
client. A number of last minute changes were accommodated and
agreed to ensure the broker had the correct quote for their renewal
meeting. The broker successfully retained the case.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
AXA was the first insurer to come back to us with
positive feedback and competitive terms. Other insurers
came back to us after the deadline asking what the rest
of the market were doing – we did not feedback any
information and after further discussion, we committed
to work with AXA to try and retain the business. Very
close to renewal, the insured confirmed numerous
changes for the forthcoming period which AXA turned
around for us immediately. This allowed us to complete
a renewal meeting with all the relevant information and
quotations requested. We successfully retained the
business and moved to AXA (including the addition of
MLP cover with AXA which the insured didn’t hold).
Guy Penn Group
Claims Excellence and Transparency
This is the service you can expect from
AXA if one of your clients needs to
make a claim:
¡¡ Our award-winning ‘One & Done’ initiative is recognised in the
market as leading the way in proactive claims settlement. With
the relevant information at notification, we will settle claims
within 24 hours
¡¡ We are continually seeking ways to reduce the impact of
claims inflation. As well as taking a pragmatic approach to
the cases we fight, we use specific opponent based strategies.
Getting to know our opponents is helping us to tackle specific
third party solicitors and understand how we can retain
appropriate claims within the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) portal
and reduce the overall cost of damages
¡¡ Our market-leading Making Claims Clear initiative provides you
with access to a suite of guides to make our Claims service as
transparent as possible for you and your customers
¡¡ We have university accredited fraud technical experts with
qualifications which are recognised within the insurance and
fraud industry. We work with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement
Department (IFED) and the police to ensure that we tackle fraud
and deter it for future claims
¡¡ Your dedicated Claims Relationship Manager will ensure the
smooth-running of the account. They will hold quarterly review
meetings to discuss risk advice, claims trends and performance
¡¡ We’re proud of our Ministry of Justice (MOJ) portal rates which
settles 90% of MOJ claims on a fixed fee basis, controlling
legal costs on EL and PL claims
¡¡ We’ll supply you with bespoke monthly claims MI which caters
to your requirements. This enables us to analyse performance
and trends around an individual client’s claims portfolio
¡¡ We have an easy and flexible notification process that
is suited to your business, including e-mail, fax, PO Box and
telephone
¡¡ AXA’s Claims Investigation Force is a unique offering in
the insurance market. We carry out all liability on-site
investigations, with full UK coverage. Geographical alignment
means that we get to know the customer and their business,
leading to greater understanding and a strong working
relationship, whilst also offering risk improvement advice to
customers on-site
¡¡ We give you 24hr/365 days a year access to claims
assistance and we work proactively with our suppliers in times
of surge. We open extra hours for customers, provide them
with advice and ensure that their claims are prioritised to get
them back into business as soon as possible
¡¡ We can carry out training through experts or supplier
specialists on any number of subjects, including validating
claims and defensibility
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
¡¡ You will have access to our trusted external partnerships
including solicitors, loss adjusters and mediation specialists
¡¡ eServe, our new online Claims tracking tool, allows you to
see how your customer’s claim is going, as it’s going.
Making Claims Clear
The moment of truth for any insurance customer is when they have
to make a claim.
AXA has launched a new market-leading Transparency initiative.
It is designed to give you and your customers clarity on how our
claims processes work, what is and is not covered in a policy and
explanations of complex insurance jargon.
By making our Claims service more transparent, customers will
have a better understanding of what they are buying and be better
prepared in the event of a claim.
Our commitment to transparency is to ensure that customers have
the best possible experience with our award-winning Claims team in
the event of a claim.
For further information on our Transparency initiative, visit
axaconnect.co.uk/makingclaimsclear or contact your local
AXA representative.
Claims Excellence and Transparency
Our award-winning Claims service
The trophy cabinet
Our dedicated Relationship Management and Handling team
truly understand your clients’ needs in the event of a claim.
Our broker partners and clients tell us that we’re getting it
right. This is reflected in the recognition that we are getting from
the industry.
2015 Insurance Times Awards - Claims Initiative
of the Year
WITHIN
24 hours
80% of claims handling
staff have a CII
professional qualification
20
AXA staff who are handling
large loss claims have an
average of 20 years of
insurance experience
90% of liability claims are
handled within the MOJ
portal, keeping claims costs
to a minimum
2015 National Agile Awards - Best Agile Team,
eServe Claims team
In 2014, AXA settled 18% of
property claims within 24 hours
under its ‘One & Done’ process
2015
WINNER
1150
In 2014, we dealt with
1,150 high value complex
claims with a combined
value of £565m
83% of all vehicle total
loss claims agreed and settled
within 10 days
2015 CII Public Interest Awards – Best Campaign
in the Public Interest (Marketing or Advertising)
category – Claims Transparency
2015 British Insurance Awards – Insurer Claims
Initiative of the Year
“In 2014, AXA maintained
its position as the 3rd most
recommended insurer in
the mid-market on the basis
of Claims service quality.
AXA ranked 1st amongst
its peer group of large
composite insurers”.
The Gracechurch mid-market Claims
Report 2014
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
How can our Risk Management enhance the service you offer?
AXA’s Risk Management service
provides support and advice at
every stage.
We know that Risk Management plays a key role in the service
you offer your clients. That’s why we help you manage your
own risks by minimising your clients’ exposure to the risks
they face working in their sector.
¡¡ Unlike other insurers, we don’t outsource our Risk
Management service
What we can do for you
Demonstrating our Risk Management Expertise
¡¡ We provide a dedicated single point of contact in our Risk
Management team to support you and your clients at
every stage
12
2
FIRE
PROTECTION
(SPRINKLER)
ENGINEERS
¡¡ We have a joined up approach with our Claims Relationship
Managers for an integrated support system for brokers
and clients
CHARTERED
H&S
SURVEYORS
Team based
throughout the UK
for wide coverage.
¡¡ AXA holds regular half yearly or quarterly review meetings to
ensure the delivery of work is on track, to review findings and to
agree any amendments to the programme.
¡¡ We have approximately 50 Risk Control Surveyors located
throughout the UK and we carry out all risk survey site
inspections ourselves
¡¡ AXA’s Risk Control Surveyors are not regulators and are
empowered to make their own judgements rather than
adhere to strict rules and regulations
¡¡ We take a practical approach to managing risk to ensure our
clients have a more resilient business. Our surveyors are able
to resolve problems swiftly and find solutions where necessary
¡¡ We have the expertise to provide advice on minimising fire,
liability risks and security of premises
¡¡ We have a number of unique relationships with providers
to ensure that we’re able to deliver the best possible service
to customers.
11,000
810
YEARS
Over 11,000
business visits
in 1 year.
Our team has over
810 years of
experience combined.
Work conducted in over
15 European countries
in the last 3 years.
18 NEW
PROFESSIONAL
STUDY
QUALIFICATIONS
IN 12 MONTHS
720
hours
720 hours of broker
risk management
training delivered.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
¡¡ We have an initial meeting with brokers and clients to fully
understand the risk management needs and requirements and
agree the programme of work
Unlike other insurers, we
don’t outsource our Risk
Management service. This
means that our Surveyors
can build strong relationships
with brokers and ensure
that we are consistent and
focussed in our approach and
delivery of assessments.
Value Added Services
We’ve introduced a range of fantastic
services for brokers who are actively
committed to working with us to grow
our mid-market book of business.
Support for the right risk
Individual case level support will be made available for all brokers to
secure the right mid-market case:
¡¡ AXA risk control/broker pre-quote on-site customer review.
Prior to the provision of underwriting and trading terms this
enables your customer to meet with a local AXA Risk Control
Surveyor to better understand our pragmatic approach to risk
management. Involving the customer from inception has
proven to increase conversion through better pricing and
more certainty regarding the suitability of their current Risk
Management programme
¡¡ Complimentary customer access to riskhelp.co.uk. Whilst
our mid-market proposition is built and delivered face-to-face by
in-house AXA Risk Control Surveyors; this simple selfassessment tool from Ignition (AXA’s wholly-owned broker
marketing agency) enables your customers to better understand
their legal and civil liabilities, with practical guidance and
signposting to a range of relevant resources
¡¡ Risk contribution. This would be dependant on the needs of
your customer, but could include provision of specialist building
valuations surveys, contribution to specific risk improvements,
risk education or training
¡¡ Access to AXA PPP Healthcare products and services to
build a total risk protection package for your client.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
Support for the right broker
We also offer additional business benefits to both our strategic and
regional brokers that are delivering:
¡¡ Accelerated growth (with a mid-market focus)
¡¡ Existing or capable of £1m+ AXA Commercial profitable GWP
and/or significant existing AXA target market penetration
¡¡ Joint partnership as part of a long term business
transformational deal.
Delivering value to our brokers
200
3000
Over 3,000 CII structured
learning CPD hours delivered
to brokers in 2015
Over 200 broker leaders have
now attended our leadership
seminars in Bordeaux and Hever
50
websites
60
More than 50 broker websites
have been built by Ignition
60 broker marketing consultancy
sessions delivered in 2015
Value Added Services
Grow your people
(CII accredited structured learning)
Grow your business
(delivered by Ignition NBS Ltd.)
¡¡ Mid-market sector specific technical, Risk Management and
Claims training plus regular market briefings
¡¡ Subsidised access to new AXA digital tools such as
the award-winning endcustomer.co.uk, which provides
brokers with real time desktop access to a range of client
data sets to help you profile and win customers
¡¡ Local team skills training on topics such as price negotiation,
customer segmentation and contact planning
¡¡ Access to leadership training events such as our popular AXA
Broker Talent seminar in Bordeaux and our AXA Broker Director
seminar in Hever
¡¡ Funding support for CII Regional Broker Academy workshops
(with top up funding if also Chartered)
¡¡ Invitations to mid-market specific broker events and seminars
with access to the Senior AXA Leadership team.
¡¡ Access to data and profiling services to help validate and
enrich your local mid-market pipeline and undertake joint
prospecting
¡¡ Marketing consultancy and execution across the complete
range of marketing services, including; lead generation,
training, web & social media design and build, video
production, creative design services such as brand or email
campaigns/print solutions and access to the Ignition CRM
bulk email campaign tool
If you get the opportunity to attend AXA’s
Broker Talent seminar in Bordeaux,
please fully embrace every aspect of it
and allow yourself to be pushed outside
of your comfort zone; as you will take so
much away from it. The venue, content,
speakers and networking opportunities;
with industry peers is truly excellent. This
is the best seminar I have been on and
unquestionably worth dedicating a week
out of the office for.
Mark Rose, Partner, Real Estate &
Construction, Locktons (Chartered)
Ignition services can also be supplied directly to the mid-market customer
as part of the tender to differentiate the AXA/Broker offer.
¡¡ AXA sector specific marketing campaigns.
From everyone at Esh Group and the
Building My Skills partnership, I would
like to say a massive thank you for
your support in producing this year’s
checkpoint folders. They have been
distributed to 50 schools and their 8,500
students across the North of England
and Yorkshire. The designs look fantastic
and the service from Ignition has been
exceptional. We look forward to working
with you later this year.
Darush Dodds, Group Added Value
Manager, Esh Group
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
Your key mid-market contacts
Our new mid-market AXA Vantage
proposition is designed to provide
you with flexible service and tailored
cover for your clients.
We will recognise your commitment to working with us to grow our
mid-market business and have a range of exclusive value added
benefits that will benefit your business and your clients that we’re
excited to talk to you about.
Our branches want to talk to you about AXA Vantage, our new
mid-market proposition. To discuss specific mid-market
opportunities, please contact your local Sales Manager.
AXA Vantage / Offering you more for mid-market
Iain Hill
Michael Yabantu
Paul Wouldham
Scotland Branch
01412 454 144
[email protected]
Manchester Branch
01619 582 970
[email protected]
Reading & Maidstone Branches
07775 011 430
[email protected]
Les Archibald
Mark Holloway
Martin Kilshaw
Newcastle Branch
01912 064 631
[email protected]
Birmingham Branch
01216 445 781
[email protected]
London Branch
02032 068 342
[email protected]
Alison Anderson
Lee Grainger
Leeds Branch
07896 426 072
[email protected]
Bristol & Cardiff Branches
01173 734 356
[email protected]
Mark Pickles
Alex Turner
National Trading Centre – Bolton
01204 815 775
[email protected]
Ipswich Branch
01473 337 073
[email protected]