Latest news with #Axa
Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Genworth Expects to Collect $750 Million on UK PPI Court Ruling
Genworth Financial Inc. expects to receive about $750 million after a UK court found Banco Santander SA liable for losses it suffered in relation to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance policies before 2005. The policies were sold by GE Capital Bank, which the Spanish lender acquired in 2009. They were underwritten by two units of Genworth that were sold to Axa SA in 2015. On Friday, a UK court said Santander was liable for Axa's losses linked to those policies and awarded it about £680 million , the firms said in statements Friday. As part of a prior agreement with Axa, Genworth said in a statement it expects to receive about $750 million of that amount. AXA said in a separate statement it will be entitled to approximately £120 million. Genworth shares rose as much as 8.7% in New York on Friday. 'We do not expect the net impact of the judgment to be material for Santander given provisions already made and the potential legal actions available,' Santander said in a statement, noting that it would appeal the ruling. The mis-selling of payment protection insurance policies represents the costliest scandal in British banking history. The policies, which covered some or all of a borrower's loan repayments in the event of an accident, sickness, involuntary unemployment or loss of life, were sold with aggressive tactics, sometimes without providing full explanations of their terms. The cost of the policies could range from 13% to more than 50% of the total loan amount. The practice eventually caught the attention of the regulators in the mid-2000s and saw British banks pay out tens of billions of pounds in refunds over the following years. With assistance from Jorge Zuloaga. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Campaign ME
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Creativity and clients at Cannes Lions 2025
I've got nothing against babies or rainforests but, in all honesty, they seem to do less for me than for my fellow judges. I was on the Innovation jury with some amazingly talented people who were intelligent, insightful and articulate. But they seemed to earnestly believe we should be saving the world more than selling to it. I know that sounds shallow but that's why I work in advertising rather than for Greenpeace or the United Nations – not that they would have me. That said, Cannes Lions 2025 showed me that both were possible. I saw campaign after campaign – including 'Three Words' by Axa, 'Beer Retirement Account' by AB InBev, 'Drops of Hope' by Kimberly-Clark, 'Cars to Work' by Renault – all of which combined meaningful purpose with increased sales. I saw several campaigns where you could appreciate the long-term benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), knowing that these problems could only have been identified – let alone, solved – by people from a variety of different backgrounds. Great examples of this include 'Caption with Intention' for the Chicago Hearing Society or 'Breastmilk Money' for Herconomy, a digital bank in Nigeria. Cannes Lions 2025 felt like creativity was back at the heart of the best marketing campaigns. Or at least creative thinking took centre stage while performance marketing and adtech were back to lurking ominously in the shadows. Metaphorically speaking, the big tech companies and media conglomerates were back to being the rich men in suits buying sparkling beverages in the club while advertising reverted to its traditional role of being the pretty ones enjoying these beverages for free. This year, advertising finally reclaimed the dance floor leaving the tech companies to enjoy the VIP booths. It was a much-needed antidote to all the talk about artificial intelligence (AI) because, at least for now, it shows there is still a valid place in business for divergent thinking. This year, across most juries, you could really notice the supremacy of the idea. Maybe it showed a growing maturity of the awards industry, or maybe it was a reflection of more diverse juries – not only creatives but also strategists, client servicing specialists and marketers. However, executional craft played second fiddle to brave thinking. There was still great craft, but it was built on the solid foundation of great ideas. There was an attention to detail, but the best work executed it at scale – big, bold campaigns that were often years in the making. The unique quirk of the Innovation jury was that the shortlisted work was presented on stage, in person. And this is where the rubber really hit the road. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) of household brands such as Phillips and Apple pitched their work along with their agency. And 10 minutes of passionate presentation can do more than a two-minute case study could ever do. In-person presentations with the client also made it hard to scam the work and exaggerate the results. Unfortunately, this was another hot topic of conversation in the week following Cannes Lions 2025. My personal view is that there is far less of a scam across both regional and global awards. I always felt that 'gaming the awards' was misguidedly thought of as just a bit of fun – part of the game. But now there are a lot more people online and in-person willing to call it out. Judging is intense. 12 hours locked in a dark room with unhealthy snacks and far too much soda. But my fellow jury members and I still took the time to question the validity of each idea – doing the necessary background checks when presented with sceptical information. AI may be helping to game some case studies, but it takes little effort to uncover fabrications. So, to conclude, my personal observations from the jury room are: AI is here, but using AI is not an idea – and it was surprising to see the number of entries that seemed to think it was. Americans were everywhere. Maybe it's because they're the people with the most money or maybe they just wanted to get out of their country for a week, but it felt like at least half the attendees were from the US. So were clients. Cannes Lions used to be about creatives and production companies. Now clients are central to every aspect – from the speeches to the jury. Ambitious ideas that use creative thinking to solve business issues were in general winning the big awards. Ads about those ideas were sometimes good but just being a good ad didn't seem enough. South American creativity, especially from Brazil and Colombia, is having its moment. They showed what can be done and how to have the most local relevance, irrespective of controversies surrounding certain topics. Creativity is becoming more democratised. Agencies from Denmark and Thailand, Puerto Rico and Nigeria won big. And those are my two cents. By Seyoan Vela, Chief Creative Officer, Livingroom Dubai
Irish Examiner
21-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Man bought fake no claims bonus for car insurance on Facebook, Cork court told
A Brazilian man who was trying to secure car insurance in Ireland purchased a fake no claims bonus from a Facebook page which he submitted to the insurance company, a district court in Cork has heard. Court presenter Sergeant Eimear O'Connell told Bandon District Court that Claudio Rodrigues Pereira, aged 47 of Emmet Row, Bandon, Co Cork, submitted the false document to Axa Insurance as part of an application for motor insurance in April 2023. Axa made a complaint to gardaí about the application and Pereira was arrested and charged with using a false instrument under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001. The court was told that Pereira had three previous convictions, two of which were for using a false instrument arising from a similar incident where he had applied to Liberty Insurance also in 2023. On that occasion he had bought a false Portuguese driving licence from a Facebook page. Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said that Pereira had been living in Ireland for four years and had a full Brazilian licence when he arrived. He said that his client had been 'duped' by the Facebook page offering licenses and no claims bonuses and was 'very contrite.' Mr Taaffe said that the offending occurred over a short period of time and that his client was now taking lessons with a view to obtaining an Irish driving licence. Judge Joanne Carroll said that the offence was 'a terrible deception' that was clearly premeditated and that Pereira was 'trying to bypass Irish law while a visitor to this country.' She added: 'If you go on to a Facebook page to buy a licence or other documents you are setting out to deceive, the question is can this man stay out of prison?' Claudio Rodrigues Pereira was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months. This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
Bloomberg
01-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
BNP Paribas Completes Acquisition of Axa's Asset Management Unit
BNP Paribas SA has finalized its purchase of Axa SA 's investment unit, creating one of Europe's largest asset managers. The newly formed business will have more than €1.5 trillion ($1.8 trillion) in assets under management, according to a release from the French bank on Tuesday. Return on invested capital is expected to exceed 14% in 2028 and 20% a year later.
LeMonde
29-06-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
In France, workplaces confront resurgence in machoism
Axe throwing has become the new outlet for stress relief in 2025. The events company Rejolt, which specializes in corporate activities and promotes "adrenaline rushes now available as group experiences," offers this trendy activity to major CAC 40 companies (the 40 largest companies listed on the Paris stock exchange). "Requests have increased by 30% in one year," said Laurent Gabard, director general of Rejolt. "We work exclusively with very large companies, across all sectors. Team building is truly exploding. It has become an HR tool, with activities close to the office, affordable budgets and local organizations. Employees need to release their stress and break up the workday." Team building has always been a way to instill the expectations companies have for their employees. Are companies, whether public or private, facing a resurgence of machismo? During the unveiling of Axa's renovated headquarters on May 21, the insurance group's human resources director, Karima Silvent, highlighted the existence of a fully equipped gym with a punching bag, exercise mats, and stationary bikes as a mark of good working conditions. Comfort and compensation were mentioned only later. "The world of work has been shaped by masculine values," recalled sociologist Haude Rivoal, who is affiliated with France's Center for Employment and Work Studies and author of La Fabrique des masculinités au travail ("The Making of Masculinity at Work," 2021). This dynamic was characterized primarily by valuing strength, maintaining distance from femininity, and adhering to the gender division of labor. "The expression of masculinity – ideals of strength and power – serves to diminish the feminine. Previously, male domination took the form of sidelining women from leadership bodies," the sociologist explained. Four channels of transmission Beneath the ornate gilding of the 18th-century Hôtel Particulier de La Vaupalière in Paris, where Axa's headquarters are located, only men's portraits hung on the walls. Indeed, there were no women in leadership at the time of the UAP mutual insurance societies, which merged with Axa in 1999. The insurance company is now nearly exemplary in terms of gender parity, with 48% women in executive management and 38% on the executive committee. However, the mural displayed in the new building, tracing the company's history to the present day, featured only one woman. You have 58.92% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
