Interview
Business Regards Croisés - AXA Japan, Insurance Facing Japan’s New Challenges
In this new episode of Business - Crossed Perspectives France-Japan, we meet Christophe Avenel, President of AXA Japan since April 2026. After several years within the AXA Group and a long experience in Japan, he looks back on the particular place of insurance in the Japanese economy, the evolution of savings behaviours and the transformations to come in the sector. With a life insurance market among the largest in the world, Japan today represents a strategic market for AXA, which has been established there for more than 40 years.
The Japan, a strategic market for AXA
The Japanese insurance market is among the largest in the world, accounting for approximately 300 billion euros for life insurance and 100 billion for non-life insurance. AXA Japan today occupies an important place within the Group, of which it is the first business in Asia. During this episode, Christophe Avenel looks back on the history of AXA’s establishment in Japan and on the integration of Nippon Dantai in the early 2000s, considered a decisive step in the Group’s development among Japanese SMEs.
This long-standing presence also allows AXA to closely observe the evolution of the Japanese economy and the changes affecting companies and households.
From savings to investment
After several decades of deflation and rates close to zero, Japan is entering a new period: inflation, rising interest rates and the development of NISA could gradually change the savings habits of Japanese households, a significant part of whose savings is still held in cash or deposits.
For AXA, this evolution opens up new perspectives, particularly around products combining savings and protection. But it also raises a broader question: how will Japanese people change their relationship with investment after decades of low inflation and very low interest rates?
A new transformation with artificial intelligence
Like the financial sector as a whole, insurance is also facing the rise of artificial intelligence. For AXA Japan, the applications are numerous: customer relations, automation, software development or even employee productivity.
With nearly 9 000 employees in Japan, this transformation also represents a management and organisational challenge. Christophe Avenel discusses the opportunities offered by AI, but also the new risks it is creating, particularly in terms of cybersecurity.
Can technology replace humans?
While some insurance operations can now be fully digitalised, not all situations lend themselves to a relationship based solely on technology. Christophe Avenel therefore looks back on the place that humans must retain in a sector based on trust when it comes to supporting customers during important moments in their lives.
“There will always be moments when people will want to talk to someone. Our role is to make this interaction available at the right time.”
Between the evolution of savings, rising interest rates, artificial intelligence and the transformation of the ways of interacting with customers, this episode offers a look at the major changes in the insurance sector in Japan and how AXA intends to support them.
