French Insurer AXA Faces $115 Million Loss from Middle East Claims

Int'l Desk: French insurance giant AXA has put a figure of roughly 115 million dollars on the losses it expects from events linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to details released with its first-half 2026 results. The sum, equivalent to about 100 million euros, weighed mainly on the group’s specialty unit AXA XL and contributed to a modest deterioration in the property and casualty combined ratio.

Despite the hit, AXA still managed to lift its overall underlying earnings for the six months to the end of June. The company reported that the Middle East losses added roughly 0.4 points to the all-year combined ratio, which finished at 90.1 percent on a constant exchange-rate basis. Excluding the contribution of a recent acquisition, the ratio would have deteriorated by 0.3 points, almost entirely because of those regional claims. Within AXA XL Insurance the impact was more visible, adding 1.1 points to the undiscounted current-year loss ratio.

Management described the exposure as limited relative to the scale of the group’s diversified book. Natural catastrophe charges remained stable at 3.5 percent of premiums, comfortably below the company’s normalised expectation of around 4.5 percent. Retail and commercial lines outside AXA XL actually improved their loss ratios, helping to offset some of the specialty pressure. Underlying property and casualty earnings still rose 6 percent on a constant-currency basis to 3.2 billion euros, supported by volume growth and pricing discipline.

The Middle East losses form part of a wider industry picture in which marine, energy and political-violence covers have faced elevated claims since the conflict intensified earlier in the year. AXA’s ability to absorb the cost while still posting higher profits and maintaining a Solvency II ratio of 218 percent underscores the resilience built into its multi-line model. Chief executive Thomas Buberl pointed to the strength of the diversified platform and said the group remains on track to deliver underlying earnings-per-share growth at the upper end of its 6-to-8 percent target range for the full year.

The figures come from AXA’s half-year financial report and related disclosures published at the end of July 2026.