Axa Equitable Insurance Company Review
AXA Equitable is the American insurance operation of the AXA Group -one of the largest insurance and financial insurance companies in the world. It is also the largest insurance company in France and the company with the ninth largest revenues in the world according to the Forbes Global 500. The company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the French insurers the Mutuelles Unies and the Drouot Group. It adopted the name AXA shortly afterwards.
The AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company was formerly the Equitable Life Insurance Company which was founded in 1859. The Equitable headquartered in New York was one of the most famous insurance companies in the US. The AXA Group bought Equitable in 1991 and changed the name to AXA Equitable in 2004. The company currently offers life insurance, annuities, brokerage accounts, and employee retirement plans.
The insurer's products are sold through the company itself and distributed by a number of subsidiaries. These other units include the AXA Network, AXA Advisors, and AXA Distributors. The retirement products are offered through the Advisors.
AXA Credit Ratings
The company's financial ratings appear to be excellent for an insurer of its size and scope. According to the most recent data available, all four of the major financial ratings firms gave rated its financial health as strong, excellent, or superior. Having good financial ratings means that an insurer is in good shape and capable of meeting all of its obligations for the foreseeable future.
The most recent rating available is from Moody's which gave AXA Equitable an Aa3 or Excellent rating in February 2011. This means that it is a well respected company but that it has slightly higher long term risks. The nature of these risks was not stated but they could come from the Group's global operations which expose it to risk in many different regions.
Fitch Research gave Axa Equitable a rating of AA- or very strong in December 2010. This indicates that Fitch's analysts think that the company has a very ability to meet obligations to its policyholders. The same experts think the risks facing Axa Equitable are only slightly lower than those at the top ranked insurers.
Standard & Poor's or S&P gave the insurer a rating of AA- or very strong in December in December, 2010. This means that S$P's experts think it has a very good capacity for meeting its financial obligations. This is the second highest rating that Stand & Poor's gives to insurers.
The most recent rating available from the fourth financial firm, A.M. Best is from June, 2010. At that time, A.M. Best gave AXA Equitable a rating of A+ or superior. This means that Best's analysts felt the insurer's chances of meeting financial obligations were superior to those of most insurance companies.
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Products
AXA currently offers five varieties of life insurance: universal, term, indexed universal, variable universal, and whole. The universal product offers a death benefit with cash value based on the amount of premiums. One of the advantages to this product is a flexible premium. There is also a Lapse Guarantee that keeps the policy in place as long as premiums are paid.
The term life product does not provide a cash value but it does provide lower premiums. Level term premiums for up to 20 years are available and it can be converted to a permanent universal, variable or whole policy.
The indexed universal life policy has the advantage of being able to grow in value because it is partially invested in an index of stocks. This can provide more benefits and cash value but there are Growth Cap Rates which limit possible returns.
The variable universal life insurance policy provides some additional options. These include two death benefit plans one equal to the policy's face amount and one that includes additional value earned by a portfolio of investments. There is more investment risk with this kind of policy.
The whole life policy comes with a fixed premium rate guaranteed for the life of the policy and a guaranteed minimum death benefit.
AXA Retirement Products
The company offers retirement products and planning services through its AXA Advisors subsidiary. These include IRAs, annuities, and employee retirement plans. Access to the annuities is available through the IRAs and Employee plans.
Three different kinds of individual retirement account are available from AXA: traditional, Roth, and SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) IRAs. The Advisors makes one kind of non-retirement available: a Coverdell Educational Savings Account. IRA features available include direct rollover from SEP accounts, an automatic sweep or investment of idle cash into money market funds, continuous record keeping, and monthly consolidated statements.
The company currently offers four different types of deferred variable annuities: the Equi-Vest, Accumulator, Retirement Cornerstone, and Structured Capital Strategies. Equi-vest is designed for long term wealth building; the Accumulator offers a large selection of investment options; the Structured Capital Strategies offers downside and upside market protection; and the Retirement Cornerstone offers a dual account structure and Guaranteed Income for Life.
The fixed annuities appear to be very basic products that offer a guaranteed interest rate, principal, and renewal rate. Spousal and death benefits are also available. Details about the immediate annuities were not available from AXA's website but they can be purchased through IRAs.
AXA Equitable Life offers a good range of basic annuity and insurance products. Unfortunately the details it divulged about its IRAs and annuities on its website were quite limited. The details of the portfolios and investment strategies for the indexed and variable universal life products and IRAs were not revealed. Nor were the ratings and performance of the portfolios themselves listed.
AXA would be a good source for basic insurance and annuity products but the information about its retirement planning services available online is quite limited. Many other companies do a much better job of informing their customers about products and services.