The French insurance market was not immune to the crisis as its 2008 turnover reported a 6.2% decrease reaching 183.6 billion EUR (258.8 billion USD).
It is life insurance with premiums worth 138.8 billion EUR (195.6 billion USD), dwindling down by 8.7%, which is crippling the market's operations. Property insurance, however, continues its progression: +2.5% in 2008 and a turnover of 44.5 billion EUR (62.7 billion USD).
The French market's downturn has not spared AXA, the French insurance leader which posted clearly negative results for 2008. With a turnover of 91.211 billion EUR (128.583 billion USD), a 2% decrease in comparison with 2007, AXA is posting a considerable fall of its net results at 923 million EUR (1.3 billion USD). Sharesholders' equity is also declining by 18% at 37.4 billion EUR (52.7 billion USD).
The 2008 results announcement has been penalized by the stock market where AXA shares were exchanged at 10.145 EUR (12.766) on February 19, 2009 versus 27 EUR (39 USD) at the start of January 2008.