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 Castries, who joined Axa in 1989, has spent the past five years
expanding the group's business into emerging markets with a 5.1
billion euro ($5.7 billion) acquisition spree in Asia, Latin America
and Africa.
In a letter to staff announcing his departure, Castries, 61, said
"it is only natural that a new team launches and manages our new
strategic plan to be announced in June 2016."
Thomas Buberl, 42, who heads AXA's German business, has been
appointed deputy chief executive and will take over from Castries
when he leaves in September.
Castries' departure is the latest in a series of leadership changes
at European insurers, with Prudential, Zurich, Old Mutual and Munich
Re all announcing new chief executives in the past year.
Under a five-year strategic plan completed last year, Axa
consolidated its position as Europe's second-biggest insurer after
Germany's Allianz by trimming its exposure to mature markets
and increasingly focusing on faster growing emerging markets where
insurance coverage remains low.
Castries is seen as a front-runner to take over from Douglas Flint
as HSBC chairman, having joined the bank's board last year. HSBC
said last week that it had begun to look for a replacement for Flint
and expected to nominate someone in 2017.
"I think Henri de Castries is quite likely to replace Flint, (I)
have been hearing that for the last nine months," one HSBC
shareholder told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.
"He is in a learning phase now and could step up next year".
HSBC said the bank did not comment on speculation.
De Castries tried to dampen the speculation, saying that people
should not turn the timing of the announcement of management changes
at AXA and HSBC into an "event".
[to top of second column] |
AXA SPLITS TOP JOBS
Incoming CEO Buberl is expected to focus on shareholder returns and
changes in digital technology, a London-based analyst said. Shares
in AXA were up 1.1 percent at 1140 GMT.
The announcement of Buberl's elevation represents a generational
shift at the insurer, where chief executives normally serve for at
least 10 years.
But the move also retains some continuity of management. AXA said it
will split the chairmanship role from that of chief executive. The
current deputy CEO in charge of finance Denis Duverne, 62, will
replace Castries as chairman
Buberl would be a rare foreign boss among leading French companies.
He was born in the German town of Wuppertal and educated in Germany,
Britain, and Switzerland.
Since joining AXA in 2012, he has headed the group's life and
savings business as well as its health line. Previously he worked at
the Winterthur group, which was acquired by AXA in 2006, and Zurich
Insurance Group.
($1 = 0.8881 euros)
(Reporting by James Regan, Leigh Thomas, Maya Nikolaeva in Paris and
Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by Andrew Callus and Keith Weir)
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