December 15, 2021
Gordon Watson on the Corporate Drive to Successfully Align Business and Social Values
As Chief Executive Officer of AXA Asia & Africa since 2018 and with three decades of insurance expertise behind him, Gordon Watson has a bird’s eye view of the evolution of HNW and UHNW insurance solutions, covering as he does a total of 20 markets across the two continents. Hubbis recently ‘met’ with him from his Hong Kong home office to learn more of AXA’s current ambitions in Asia and what he expects for the development of life solutions in the years ahead. Gordon has plenty of global perspective, having worked with AIG/AIA in the US, London, the Middle East, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong, and before joining AXA having led from the front as Regional Asia CEO of AIA Group based in Hong Kong, where he championed a range of major new initiatives ranging from health and wellness programmes to corporate partnerships. We met him not long after Africa was shifted within his remit in May, and as the business has increasingly been deepening its focus on what he calls holistic health since the onset of the pandemic, with insurance solutions aimed at delivering a comprehensive mix of support for physical and mental health needs. He explains that AXA has also evolved its approach to the customer experience and emphasised the vital importance of setting an example by acting at all times in the best interests of employees, customers and society at large.