Staff at AXA Singapore cut in retrenchment exercise; more than 20 affected

AXA Singapore has reportedly retrenched over 20 staff whose roles have been made redundant following the firm’s acquisition by HSBC earlier this year.

According to a report by The Straits Times (ST), the retrenchment exercise began on Thursday (Sep 1) and continued into Friday. Those affected were said to have come from different departments, including telemarketing and legal.

 A HSBC Life spokesman was quoted as saying: “A small number of roles will be impacted. Our priority is to support colleagues through reskilling and redeployment opportunities within the wider HSBC Group. We have announced plans to hire 5,000 wealth roles in Asia by 2025.”

Employees were reportedly offered severance pay of 1 month’s salary for every year with the company, although there was a limit of 12 months for assistant manager roles and above.

HSBC Insurance - which is a unit of HSBC - announced last year that it was acquiring AXA Singapore for US$529 million as part of its efforts to strengthen its wealth management footprint in Asia. The acquisition was completed in February this year, after which HSBC said it would phase out AXA Singapore’s motor and general insurance businesses by mid-year.

At the time the acquisition was first announced, AXA Singapore was Singapore’s eighth-largest life insurer by annualised new premiums, the fifth-largest property and casualty insurer and a leading group health player.

According to the ST report, there have been more than 10 employees who have left the company since the acquisition was completed in February, with 3 senior officers resigning in June.