AXA Insurance Expands, Pursues Romania

By Mini Swamy
TMCnet Contributor

New York-based AXA Insurance, which established a presence in Romania in 2009 by purchasing Omniasig Life Insurance, entered into a four-year agreement with IBM (News - Alert) to help streamline business processes and uncover new business opportunities.

IBM Global Technology Services, which helped integrate Omniasig's systems with those of AXA, will now provide the company with a single view of customers and lower operational costs by automation, according to company officials.

It will also facilitate the smarter computing project through its data center in Petrom City, which is expected to enable AXA to create a flexible and scalable IT infrastructure that will enhance its growth in the Romanian market.

"IBM introduced its Smarter Computing approach to IT last year as a way for organizations to realize greater efficiencies, improved reliability and better performance, all at a lower cost," said Bogdan Balaci, country general manager at IBM Romania, in a press release.

As another part of the agreement, IBM will move Omniasig's client system to a centralized solution that will create a more open, flexible, scalable, efficient and secure system. This, in turn, is expected to provide AXA with greater control over insurance policies and reduce internal investment costs.

This is significant, considering the increasingly important role that Romania's insurance sector plays in the country's economy. New demand for insurance coverage is triggered by government, strengthening its regulatory body and increasing program funding.

While this was true, Violeta Ciurel, president and CEO at AXA Insurance Romania believes that penetration rates still have a long way to go to before they are on par with developed markets.

Well positioned to exploit the untapped potential and opportunity in the insurance policy market, AXA purchased Omniasig Life Insurance to get a foothold in the Romanian market. Coupled with the latest deal with IBM, the firm is poised for tremendous growth.

In other news, AXA and HSBC entered into an agreement whereby AXA would acquire HSBC's P&C businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico. In addition, AXA benefits from a 10-year exclusive P&C bancassurance agreement with HSBC in these countries as well as in India, Indonesia and China.