AXA

French insurance group AXA employs 147,000 people, serving 94 million clients in 51 countries, but it began as a small provincial mutual in Normandy. Originally known as Ancienne Mutuelle de Rouen, it navigated the postwar rise of the French welfare state and nationalizations, rising through a series of audacious acquisitions to become the country’s largest insurer by the early 1990s, when it also began expanding abroad. Today, a quarter of AXA’s revenue comes from insurance in France, with a substantial share also coming from the rest of Europe, though it also has notable Asia-Pacific and North American operations, as well as a growing presence in emerging markets. Although it has sizable asset management and health insurance businesses, its main activities by far are property and casualty, and life insurance. AXA is headquartered in Paris.