Ageas UK doubles down on personal lines through commercial lines sale

Ageas UK is announcing the sale of its commercial lines business to AXA UK. The sale is aligned with Ageas UK’s strategy to focus its time and investment on growing the intermediated personal lines business, where it has strong heritage and market-leading experience with a reputation for successfully backing brokers.

The deal will see Ageas’s Commercial lines business transfer to AXA from July 2022, while existing back book policies will remain with Ageas.

Ageas’s Commercial lines business is targeted at the SME and Schemes market including shopkeepers, property owners, offices and surgeries, homeworkers, tradespeople, and professionals.

Around 100 Ageas employees who work predominantly on Commercial lines underwriting and broker relationship management services will transfer to AXA and at the same time remain based at Ageas’s Gloucester office where AXA will lease some space. Ageas will now open a TUPE consultation with those people to start the transition process.

Both insurers will work closely together to ensure a seamless transition for employees, brokers, and their customers.

“The sale of our Commercial lines business is an important step in our strategy to focus on growing our heartland of intermediated Personal lines business, particularly where it’s traded electronically. While we’ve modestly grown in Commercial lines over the last couple of years, our focus is now elsewhere. I’m pleased that, through this deal, we’ve enabled continued employment for our people who will transfer to AXA, an organization well-placed to support our people, brokers and their clients in the future management of this business. We’re proud of the Commercial lines expertise we have developed in this team, and in announcing this next step for Ageas in the UK, I would like to thank our people, brokers and suppliers for their invaluable support in building this business with us over the last few years.” – Ant Middle, CEO at Ageas UK.