AXA Group

Nonetheless, we consider AXA group's capital position to remain partly reliant on soft forms of capital, such as life insurance future profits, unrealized gains on investments, and hybrid debt instruments. The sensitivity of such forms of capital to market movements may increase the volatility of AXA's capitalization in cases of market stress. The stable outlook reflects our view that, over the next two years, AXA's profitability will continue to strengthen, and its capital position will remain very strong. We could lower the ratings over the next two years if unexpected adverse market developments materially weakened AXA's capital adequacy prospects and depressed its stand-alone profitability. Setbacks in the integration of XL or the significant underperformance of XL's profit contribution could also

...S&P Global Ratings' '##-' issuer credit and financial strength ratings on the core operating subsidiaries of AXA group reflect the group's prominent business positions across significant insurance markets and lines of business. AXA's operating profitability metrics in recent years demonstrate the group's competitive advantage due to its size, business (property and casualty [P&C], health, life, and asset management) and geographic diversification (France, the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Switzerland, Belgium, and Japan), brand recognition, and capacity to gradually shift its business mix away from financial market-sensitive products. For these reasons, we choose the higher anchor in the '##-/a+' dual outcome. We consider AXA's 2018 acquisition of the XL insurance group strategic. The deal made AXA's insurance operations into a global leader in commercial P&C lines, combining XL's specialty commercial business with AXA Corporate Solutions. It also provided a profit contribution from XL, with...

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