French Insurer Looks To Japan P&C Market As Growth Area

Axa-UAP, France's largest insurance group, is gearing up to expand into the Japanese property and casualty insurance market.

A number of Japanese companies, including Sony Corp. and Secom Co., are making forays into the nonlife insurance business, exploiting the opening created by deregulation of premiums. But Axa-UAP is the first foreign firm to make the leap into the market since the July deregulation.

Aiming to be licensed this year, Axa-UAP plans to set up a new nonlife insurance unit that will use the Japan branch of UAP as a starting base, company officials told Asia Pulse. Axa, which already has a wholly owned life-insurance subsidiary in Japan, acquired the formerly state-owned UAP, or Union des Assurances de Paris, in 1996.

The new insurer will take over policies written by UAP in Japan and will expand into auto insurance as early as fiscal 1999. Axa-UAP has not yet mapped out its marketing plans, but the group is considering reaching Japanese consumers through direct marketing.

Besides individuals, Axa-UAP will also target corporations, hoping to play on its global strengths to win business with Japanese firms that have a presence overseas.