New division reinforces focus on risk mitigation and advisory services for complex commercial exposures
AXA XL has created a dedicated prevention-focused business unit, consolidating its risk consulting, prevention and advisory capabilities into a standalone division as the insurer expands its emphasis on proactive risk management services.
The new operation becomes AXA XL’s fifth business unit, alongside the company’s Americas, APAC & Europe, UK & Lloyd’s, and Reinsurance divisions. The move positions prevention and risk insight as a core component of the insurer’s long-term commercial strategy.
The division will be led by Libby Benet, currently AXA XL’s global chief underwriting officer. Its mandate includes expanding the company’s prevention services and risk consulting offerings to help clients address increasingly complex exposures such as climate-related risks, cyber threats, supply chain disruption and operational resilience challenges.
AXA XL said the unit is intended to strengthen client partnerships by integrating prevention more closely into underwriting and risk management. The strategy reflects growing demand from large corporates for services that help anticipate and mitigate losses, rather than relying solely on traditional insurance coverage.
The launch also aligns with wider market trends as commercial insurers continue investing in risk engineering, analytics and real-time monitoring capabilities to improve portfolio performance and differentiate their offerings. AXA has increasingly positioned prevention and data-driven risk management as central themes across its commercial insurance operations.
Benet, who joined AXA XL in 2020 as chief underwriting officer for cyber before becoming global chief underwriting officer in 2022, brings extensive experience across cyber and specialty underwriting. Her background is seen as particularly relevant as insurers respond to evolving cyber risks, ransomware threats and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the risk landscape.
According to AXA XL, the prevention unit will support the development of more integrated service capabilities, including natural catastrophe modelling, cyber advisory services, supply chain analytics and operational resilience support for multinational clients.
