650 job losses at insurance group AXA
The meeting was only announced, making the unions suspicious that bad news was on the way. These fears now appear to have been founded.
A collective redundancy procedure has been initiated. A total of 650 jobs will be scrapped over the next two years. According to representative of the Francophone Liberal Trades Union CGSLB 300 people will be made redundant before the end of the year.
The unions had initially spoken of 850 job losses. However, AXA says that 650 jobs will be lost.
Restructuring at AXA
All of the jobs will go in AXA’s insurance division. The banking division will not be hit by the job losses. AXA has asked to be given the status of a company undergoing restructuring.
If granted this would allow early retirement to be given to employees over the age of 55 thus preventing forced redundancies. A restructuring can last a maximum of two years. It is unclear if any more jobs will be axed after that. Currently just under 4,000 people work at AXA.
A new focus for AXA
Bosses at AXA say that in future they want to focus on damage insurance and pensions and no longer on insurance policies for investors.
Not only banks but also insurance companies are finding it difficult as a result of the low interest rates that are currently in force. AXA also wants to free up funds for investment in digital applications.