Axa and Winterthur to merge group pension business but keep individual separate

Axa and Winterthur will continue to run their individual personal pension and investment businesses in parallel with separate brands but the providers’ group pension businesses are to merge.
Winterthur chief executive Mike Kellard will continue in his role and report to Axa Life chief executive Paul Evans.
The announcement is part of an on-going review of business following Axa’s £6bn deal to acquire Winterthur in June.
Axa says the decision to keep separate brands for individual pensions and investment means Winterthur can continue to specialise in commission-free products while Axa will continue to develop its wealth management proposition.
It says as the group pension businesses of the two providers have closely-aligned customer bases it makes sense to merge the two operations into a focused corporate business unit.
Evans says: “We believe that our vision for running the Axa and Winterthur businesses in the UK upon completion of this transaction will successfully marry the specialist strengths of Winterthur with Axa’s broader proposition and distribution expertise to create a powerful offering to our corporate and wealth management customers.”
Kellard says: “We believe that our organisational vision following completion of the merger will protect the value of Winterthur’s proposition and secure continuous profitable growth through the high net worth advisory channel while benefiting from Axa’s comprehensive offering across the market as a whole.”