AXA Group

The stable outlook reflects our view that, over the next two years, AXA's profitability will recover, notably due to a material contribution from AXA-XL, and capital adequacy will remain very strong, according to our capital model. We could lower the ratings over the next two years if unexpected adverse market or catastrophe-related developments materially weaken AXA's capital adequacy prospects and depress its stand-alone profitability. Setbacks in tackling the underperformance of AXA-XL's profitability, including the repetition of negative one-off items, could also pressure the ratings. We see a potential upgrade of AXA as unlikely. It would hinge on material improvement in the group's profitability and capital adequacy. Eurozone GDP decline of 7.2% in 2020 and a rebound to 4.8% growth in

...S&P Global Ratings expects AXA Group (AXA) will maintain its leading market positions in various core markets. AXA Group (AXA) is one of the largest global multiline insurers, distinguished by its diverse geographic and product lines. We expect AXA will maintain robust capitalization at the '##' level. Despite a decline in net income due to COVID-19-related claims of 1.5 billion and several other nonrecurring items in 2020, we expect AXA's capitalization will remain very strong, with capital buffers increasing due to AXA's expected earnings growth combined with market recovery over the next two years. Nonetheless, we consider AXA group's capital position will 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. We expect AXA XL will contribute positively...

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