AXA SA Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

AXA Versicherung AG is a classic composite insurer and holds a leading position among property and casualty insurance companies in Germany. It has its roots in 1919 in the then Viking Lloyd Insurance AG. Through mergers with well-known companies such as in 1999 with the Nordstern Allgemeine Versicherungs-AG, 2000 with the Albingia insurance AG and 2009 with the DBV-Winterthur insurance AG, the DBV-WinSelect insurance AG and the German doctors insurance general insurance AG is in the strong growth in recent years. Business focuses are motor insurance and liability insurance. In addition, important branches of business include accident insurance, building and household contents insurance in the private customer business and fire and transport insurance in the industrial and corporate customer business.

Merger of DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung AG with our company

As announced in the 2015 Annual Report, DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung AG was merged into our company with effect from 1 January 2016. The public service (OD) customer segment with the DBV brand will be continued by setting up a branch office DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung of AXA Versicherung AG. This procedure corresponds to the mergers of the respective life and health insurance companies already carried out. The merger of the holdings of DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung and AXA Versicherung - while maintaining DBV's brand image - makes good business sense: it increases efficiency and reduces the complexity of the AXA Group. It has positive effects on the administrative costs, which also benefits the customers. At the same time, this can strengthen the equity position.

In order to allow comparability with the previous financial year, the following management report and appendix consolidate the information contained in the individual financial statements of AXA Versicherung and DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung for 2015 as far as possible and appropriate. These pro forma values ​​are indicated under "2015 **" and the footnote "** pro forma values". Furthermore, we have added a pro forma column to the balance sheet and the income statement for this purpose.

Strong AA ratings

Headquartered in France, the AXA Group is one of the most stable global financial services providers. The three major rating agencies have long since certified their high financial strength. Their classifications also apply to the core companies of the German AXA Konzern AG. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its Financial Strength Rating decision for AXA from A + to AA- on October 27, 2016, providing it with a stable outlook. A few weeks earlier, on September 9, 2016, Moody's Investors Service reaffirmed its Aa3 Insurance Financial Strength rating with a stable outlook for the AXA Group. Fitch Ratings continues to rate AXA in its Insurer Financial Strength Rating decision of June 28, 2016 as AA-, also with a stable outlook.

Strategic forward with Ambition 2020

The insurance industry is in an intensive phase of upheaval. Almost all companies are in the process of bringing the insurance's "traditional" business model into the modern, digital world. As one of the first insurers in Germany, the AXA Group has already adapted to the changes at an early stage and developed the Ambition 2020 strategy. The Group is thus pursuing two central goals: to deepen customer relations while at the same time becoming more agile and efficient. In line with the claim in the mission statement "We are pioneers" AXA wants to set new standards in the industry.

A large number of measures have been initiated or already implemented in the company for this purpose. AXA has set up a new central unit Customer Management. In addition, the company invests in start-ups through the AXA Innovation Campus to generate innovative and insurance-related business ideas. The Transactional Business unit has created new and innovative business approaches that are based on customer wishes. The cleverPARKEN app shows free seats in participating car parks and their opening times and enables cashless payments. With the App WayGuard users can be accompanied by a professional control center and private friends to the front door, for example, if the way in the evening alone home leads through a dark street or a deserted park.

Ambition 2020 also includes an agreement on market-driven work control to distribute and prioritize work across the boundaries of sites and organizational units. The expenses for this extensive remodeling process