AXA Group

EIRIS (Ethical Research Investment Services), based in London, is one of the leading providers of non-financial data for the socially responsible investment market in Europe. This agency does not publish any ratings per se, but the SRI index produced by FTSE - FTSE4GOOD - is based on EIRIS research. The AXA Group is part of this index.

Since the merger of Stock at Stake (member of the Ethibel Group) and Vigeo in 2005, the ESI index (Ethibel Sustainability Indices) are the property of Vigeo, which distributes them. The respective research databases have also merged. Nevertheless, the independent organisation "Forum Ethibel" still defines the contents of the ESI, notably based on both SRI performance and ethical considerations.

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, an international research consultancy, analyzes the performances of businesses in relation to environmental, social and strategic governance factors. More specifically, it focuses on their impacts on the competitiveness, profitability and performance of their share prices.

Each year, the German Oekom Research agency publishes a database analyzing the social, community and environmental performances of around 750 businesses, including AXA.

Ratings issued by the Zurich-based analysis institute SAM reflect the company's performance based on economic, social and environmental criteria. Each one of these three areas is based on several weighted sub-criteria. The overall rating is based on a weighted average of the three key areas, benchmarked against the average for the sector.

The AXA Group's performance is also rated by Vigeo, a European social and environmental rating agency.

The score reflects the level of commitment to social responsibility on a scale from 0 to 100. Based on an analysis of the relevance and effectiveness of the various policies surveyed, the score represents an absolute rating, positioning the business in relation to the Vigeo rating standards. The rating ranks the company in relation to other firms in the "insurance" sector (34 European companies in 2008), thereby benchmarking the scores for the various companies against one another.