AXA Group

Road safety represents a key issue for society in general. AXA, as a leading motor insurer, has built up in-depth expertise on the analysis of risky driving behavior and how to reduce the consequences of accidents. In this way, the Group is able to take preventative actions with a view to effectively minimizing the number and severity of road accidents, benefiting not only its clients, but also society in general.

• AXA Corporate Solutions: the AXA Group's dedicated company for large international businesses has developed Scope 2 in 2002, a software program offering corporate clients with an automobile fleet a comprehensive approach to teaching their employees all about road safety. This tool, which is unique on the market, makes it possible to build up a clearer picture of risks on the road and steer clear of them more effectively through 11 simple rules. Some 30,000 people have already taken this course, which lasts around two hours and ends with a test to check the knowledge acquired.

The prevention of fire risks is generally one of the pillars underpinning any property and casualty cover, whether for the home or for industrial sites. The AXA Group, drawing on its position as market leader and its expertise on comprehensive home insurance and large risks, is fighting to reduce the number of such incidents, with the AXA companies that have taken early prevention actions including:

• AXA Canada, which has introduced a comprehensive home insurance line with an environmental and safety inspection process combined with recommendations on prevention.
• AXA Entreprises, part of AXA France, which has seen that after a fire, one out of every two businesses ends up having to cease trading within five years, with direct damages (real estate, production facilities, IT equipment, etc.) or indirect damages (temporary layoffs, loss of customers, loss of earnings, etc.) preventing them from continuing with their business activity on sound foundations. In light of this situation, AXA Entreprises has launched a five-point prevention program aimed at achieving a lasting reduction in the occurrence of fires in small and medium-sized businesses. To accompany business leaders as they implement preventative measures, a simple, effective and relatively inexpensive solution has been developed: the Fire Prevention Charter. Made up of three sections - management awareness and staff communications, contractual reduction in fire premiums, recommendations for a network of service providers - the Charter groups together all the elements needed for fire prevention measures to be applied correctly within the business.

The Group's health risk prevention policy is based on a range of measures adapted for the Group's individual and corporate clients, as well as a humanitarian reinsurance program in Ethiopia. First and foremost, the aim is to prevent social exclusion risks through insurance products.

For liability and environmental underwriters and engineers in the field, the risk of legionnaire's disease represents a major concern for a growing number of policyholders (risk of administrative closure, risk for reputation). AXA Corporate Solutions, the AXA Group's dedicated company for large international businesses, has therefore set up a "monitoring unit" for engineering, tasked to:

• Draw up and keep up-to-date an inventory of knowledge of means of exposure and transmission of legionnaire's disease from industrial facilities, the application of regulations and any changes, industry best practices for prevention guidelines and diagnostic techniques, including their limitations, and new cases of epidemics.
• Build awareness during meetings or audits of our policyholders' sites.
• Exchange ideas and know-how within the Entreprises pour l'Environnement (EPE) organization on technical challenges or developments for prevention.
• Assist claims settlement teams and experts in the event of a loss.

People with complex or unusual pathologies sometimes find it difficult to get health insurance. The various actions taken to combat this form of discrimination include:

• Insurance products from AXA Equitable's Clinical Underwriting range in the US, designed for people whose medical file might see requests for cover being rejected by conventional insurers. These clients have controllable pathologies such as certain cardiovascular diseases, diabetes or depression. As of the underwriting phase, the products offered focus on the importance of the policyholder's treatment and lifestyle, notably making it possible for them to take out life insurance policies.

If, following a covered accident, the policyholder or a member of his or her family becomes disabled, a wide range of benefits and services are available thanks to the life accident cover ("Garantie des Accidents de la Vie") offered by AXA France:

• Immediate and personalized information and advice on the rights of disabled people (accommodation centers, life at home, help available, etc.);
• Home-based teaching assistance, from primary school through to the end of secondary, for children disabled further to an accident who are unable to attend school for longer than 15 consecutive days;
• Organization of support services for trips;
• Identification of medical, paramedical or auxiliary staff;

Support to adapt their home: review of physical and mental capacities, then intervention by an expert to determine and financially assess the measures to be taken with a view to adapting their home

The AXA Group, notably through AXA Assistance, whose origins date back to 1959, has built up in-depth expertise on how to provide assistance for vulnerable people, including the elderly, sick or disabled, or people who are in dangerous situations requiring urgent repatriation services. These services are part of the risk prevention approach on which the Group's individual insurance business is based.

AXA Assistance has built up personal assistance expertise through a range of programs aimed at prevention and improved care for patients. The focus is on the individual and his or her well-being, with close assistance available each day.

• The Health Information Centre: a team of doctors and healthcare professionals is on hand to provide supplementary advice and support over the phone, covering various pathologies: obesity, tobacco addiction, alcoholism, etc.
• "Fil Bleu" (Blue Line): an assistance service for the elderly, providing round-the-clock support to come to their aid in the event of an accident or a health problem or simply if they want to talk. This project is making it possible to combat isolation among the elderly, allowing them to enjoy a maximum level of safety and listening.
• "Fil Orange" (Orange Line): this program is aimed at elderly clients. Thanks to a mobile telephone fitted with a specific warning system, it enables users to remain mobile and independent. If necessary, this person may notify AXA Assistance with a GPS system. If users are no longer able to do it themselves, for instance if they feel faint or have had an accident, they can be located automatically, making it possible to come to their aid.
• PHARMA: this program has grown considerably, particularly in Spain and the UK, providing support for patients with restricted medical treatments in order to optimize the effects of their care and above all prevent treatments being stopped while they are underway.
• Télé PAT: AXA Assistance is taking part in research into intelligent systems enabling medical follow-up and a monitoring of vital parameters for people at risk or with disabilities, allowing them to stay at home.

As a complementary tool to micro-finance, micro-insurance is supported by a partnership between insurers and micro-finance institutions which already benefit from a network to access targeted populations.

Within the context of the Group's sustainable development strategy, AXA invested in micro-finance projects since 2005 and complemented this expertise in 2007 by developing micro-insurance products adapted to low incomes customers, who do not have access to conventional insurance schemes.

Working in partnership with Adie (Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Economique), an organization that encourages individual economic development, AXA France and Macif (a French mutual insurer) contributed to this commitment through a micro-insurance offer dedicated the smallest businesses. It is presented by Adie advisors alongside their micro-lending products.

After three years, the offer reenters the realm of traditional insurance. These entrepreneurs, who are particularly exposed financially, should be able to get full insurance coverage to protect their business venture. And yet, according to a survey conducted by Adie and the ESSEC business school in 2007, 20% of these entrepreneurs are unable to finance their insurance coverage, and 40% were unable to assess the quality of their coverage. AXA France and Macif thus offered a deliberately straightforward range including full coverage that is adapted to the special needs of these small businesses, and affordable rates that are adjusted to reflect the operating environment of the business.

Two packages have been put together with different rates and different garanties:

• Homeowners' comprehensive insurance for people who work from home. This module includes comprehensive coverage for homeowners, professional and personal third-party liability, and work interruption.
  
• Professional comprehensive insurance for those who have leased separate premises. This module includes professional comprehensive coverage, professional and operational third-party liability and business interruption.

In addition to these packages, policyholders who need it can purchase cover for Professional motor insurance, which includes goods in transit and mandatory collision coverage ; and Construction insurance for micro-entrepreneurs who are getting started in the building trade. It includes mandatory decennial liability, optional third-party liability, construction phase coverage and related cover.