Axa's asset management unit to cut up to 90 roles in revamp

(Bloomberg) –Axa Investment Managers is eliminating as many as 90 roles as the French firm aims to streamline part of the organization.

The layoffs at Axa SA’s asset management arm, which had 2,600 employees at the end of 2022, will be across the UK, France and Germany, the firm told Bloomberg News in an email on Monday. The move will affect the company’s operations teams as well as Axa IM Core, which includes the fixed income, equities and multi asset teams.

Axa IM Core will be reorganized into four functions, namely investment, product and client strategy, core client group, and transversal services, according to the statement.

“Recent market developments” such as rising interest rates “have resulted in a decline in its asset base and negatively affected revenue,” Axa IM said. 

Axa, the Paris-based insurance group, is in the final year of a strategic plan kicked off in late 2020 and is expected to unveil a new one in early 2024. The group’s underlying earnings jumped 19% to €4.1 billion ($4.5 billion) in the six months through June, Axa said this month, adding it was on track to exceed underlying profit of €7.5 billion this year.

Read more: Axa First-Half Underlying Profit Rises on Favorable Prices

In a bid to improve efficiency Axa IM Core plans to “re-evaluate its organization to further simplify it, enhance investment processes by incorporating data and technology further in portfolio management, and improve decision-making agility,” Axa IM said in the statement. The operations unit will also undergo changes, including in project management and technology teams. 

Axa IM is currently in negotiations with trade unions in France and Germany about the job cuts and said the plans are still “in project mode and are conditional.”