AXA Group

In 2005, AXA launched a corporate project aiming to make AXA the "preferred company" in its industry by 2012. In other words, for the Group to become the preferred company for its partners, clients, employees and shareholders as well as the community in general. This ambition is reflected in various quantitative objectives, such as doubling revenues and tripling operating profit through organic growth.

Differentiation
To stand out from its peers and be chosen by clients, AXA must harness its vision:

• One business - Financial Protection, covering property and casualty insurance, life insurance, personal protection, savings, pensions and asset management,
• One recognized brand,
• One promise - be life confident - embodying the benefits of solutions adapted to keep pace with the changing protection and savings needs of clients throughout their lives,
• A clear organic growth and acquisition strategy,
• A diverse regional base, offering financial stability and a wealth of experience,
• A commitment to conducting its business as a responsible company and global citizen.

Five differentiation drivers
The Group's operating model is based on five key areas: product innovation, quality of service, distribution management, technical excellence, and productivity. Achieving excellence in these areas is notably what the "AXA Way" continuous improvement program is working towards. This excellence is founded on the leadership and performance of the Group's human resources.

Responsible corporation
When implementing its operating model, AXA is committed to reconciling economic performance and society's expectations at all times. The various financial, commercial and corporate facets of its brand will thereby reflect the Group's image as a successful business and global citizen. This represents one of the factors to be leveraged as we work towards becoming the preferred company by 2012.

No company is sustainable without meeting the needs and expectations of its clients. To better understand and satisfy these needs, AXA must identify and analyze all aspects of the society within which its clients are developing. If the Group wants to protect them, it must identify the problems they will have to face by anticipating them, which implies going over and above the needs that are actually expressed. This analysis can only be carried out while taking social, economic and environmental changes into account, such as the ageing of the population or climate change. Incorporating these needs, within their context, into the Group's strategy is essential.

Property and casualty insurance, life insurance and savings, and retirement and personal protection products and services provide vehicles that give individuals and businesses the confidence, protection and resources they need to undertake projects and investments they could not otherwise contemplate. The risks that are inherent to human existence, economic activity and the natural environment have given this business an essential role in society and local economies. Moreover, as a major global investor on the equity and bond markets, AXA plays a key role supporting the development of businesses and governments, and therefore the creation of wealth and jobs.

The aim is to not only accompany the development of society, but also to proactively encourage "responsible" practices with innovative products and services. This leveraging effect covers all of the Group's main activities:

• In the property and casualty business, the challenge is to raise public awareness and correctly underwrite risks with a view to encouraging activities that are compatible with sustainable development, while reducing risk exposure through preventative actions.
• Set against population ageing, growing today without endangering the resources available to future generations involves among other things the sustainable financing of pensions. This means helping ensure that costs are split fairly between workers and pensioners over the long term, while raising awareness of this issue both individually and collectively well before people reach retirement age. On life insurance, AXA's priority is therefore to raise public awareness, offer higher quality and better adapted retirement solutions, and carry out research into retirement issues.
• With regard to asset management, the aim is to reconcile this activity's performance requirements with an active voting and investment policy factoring in the main social, environmental and governance issues: Responsible Investment.

These activities involve mutualizing and transferring a certain number of risks. The risk management strategy, which aims to provide a coordinated framework for all of these processes, makes it possible to facilitate and effectively control this risk-taking over the long term, incorporating sustainable development into the Group's Risk Management framework.

The Group's business, Financial Protection, contributes to the economic and social development of the society in which it operates and that is home to its clients as well as its employees, shareholders and all other direct and indirect partners. That is why AXA is committed to carrying out its activities as a responsible corporation, managing its direct impacts on its various stakeholders:

• Employees: continually strengthening their skills and commitment with a view to improving performance, with a priority focus on diversity and equal opportunities.
• Clients: consistently delivering efficient services and adapted solutions, while adhering to the highest standard of professional conduct.
• Shareholders: achieving industry-leading operating performance levels in order to create lasting value, and providing them with transparent information.
• Suppliers: assessing their commitment to sustainable development and human rights when selecting suppliers, with AXA's procurement teams upholding strict rules of professional conduct.
• Environment: working to reduce paper, water and energy consumption, cutting CO2 emissions, managing electronic waste, gradually incorporating environmental quality standards at AXA's sites, and rolling the environmental reporting system out Group-wide.
• The community: developing corporate philanthropy actions focusing on prevention, social volunteering, local development and the fight against exclusion.

These best practices stem from the application of AXA's values - professionalism, innovation, pragmatism, team spirit and integrity - by its employees each day.

AXA's sustainable development strategy has been formalized thanks to a wide ranging review spread over several years, in addition to its corporate culture. Indeed, the Group's longstanding commitment to the community and its gradual factoring in of corporate social responsibility issues are outlined in the "Highlights" section.

The Group's community policies have progressively become more structured, with the creation of the Group Sustainable Development Department. AXA's commitments in relation to its main partners were validated in 2003. In the same year, an international-level commitment was also made, when the Group signed up to the Global Compact, covering human rights, labor standards, the environment and the fight against corruption.

In 2004, an in-house environmental and social audit was carried out at Group level in order to identify current strengths, opportunities to take the organization forwards, and areas for improvement. Based on these findings, the main components of the sustainable development strategy were defined. 2005 saw the creation of the sustainable development governance committee, chaired by a member of the Management Board.

In 2005, the Group took a decisive step forwards with the implementation of its commitments by defining its sustainable development strategy, which was validated by the Management Board in June 2005. This first stage was followed by the formalization of the Group's priorities, notably thanks to a self-assessment process carried out in Group companies at the end of 2005.

The third stage of the strategic anchoring process, launched in 2006, involved a Group-wide rollout based on the development and validation of local action plans, which have been incorporated directly into the Group's three-year strategic plan.