Axa Equitable Life, the US unit of French insurer Axa Group,
reached an important milestone in on 26 June 2009 with the marking
of the 150th anniversary of its founding.
“In the company’s first 150 years, we have endured two world
wars, the Great Depression, 18 recessions and a terrorist attack on
our own soil,” said Christopher “Kip” Condron, Axa Equitable’s
chairman and chief executive.
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One of the largest providers of life, annuity and investment
products in the US today, Axa Equitable was founded as The
Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States (The
Equitable) in 1849 by then 25-year-old Henry Hyde, a former cashier
at the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York.
Capitalised at $100,000, The Equitable began business out of a $75
dollar-a-month rented office in New York City.
The Equitable demutualised in 1992 in the then largest insurance
company stock conversion, following which Axa emerged as its
largest single investor.
Axa Group bought the remaining shares of The Equitable in 2000 at
which stage the current Axa Equitable name was adopted. Axa
Equitable serves more than 3 million clients in the US, Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands.
A major component of the Axa Group, its US life and savings
operations generated revenue of €5.584 billion ($7.9 billion) in
the first half of 2009, down 17.1 percent compared with the first
half of 2008.
The first-half 2009 total represented 18.5 percent of Axa Group’s
total life and savings revenue of €30.1 billion.
