Responsible investment

The AXA Group's investment policy on companies that produce controversial weapons

AXA believes that private sector business enterprises have neither the expertise nor the legitimacy to take positions on political and/or ethical issues raised by representatives of civil society. However, the Group had committed in 2007 to divest its holdings in companies that produce or sell cluster bombs and anti-personnel landmines, and this commitment has been fully implemented worldwide in 2008.

Indeed AXA has closely monitored the evolving consensus in international conventions and law with respect to anti-personnel landmines and cluster bombs. Hence, AXA's decision to divest was taken in 2007 after a clear international consensus emerged with respect to these types of weapons:

• Anti-personnel landmines are outlawed by the Ottawa Convention (signed 1997)
• Cluster bombs are similarly covered by the "Oslo process", a political negotiation process initiated and supported by numerous governments in 2007, closed in December 2008 with a formal treaty prohibiting cluster bombs "that cause unacceptable harm to civilians".

The divestment policy covers investments of the AXA Group's general account insurance assets. Regarding assets that the Group manages on behalf of third parties, from a legal and fiduciary point of view AXA is not at liberty to impose its own choices on third-party clients. Nevertheless, AXA Investment Managers, AXA's wholly-owned asset management subsidiary, has itself taken the decision to divest holdings in companies that produce or sell cluster bombs from the retail mutual funds (non-index based) that it manages.