European Insurance Weekly Cover

Research evidence excerpt

European Insurance Weekly Cover

Barclays | European Insurance

We believe the gap underscores the disruptive potential of AI within the European insurance

industry, with demographics an obvious catalyst. Interestingly, the largest gap between AI

adoption for general shopping and insurance purchasing appears to be in the UK, an already

highly disintermediated market where consumers rely heavily on PCWs. Germany, France and

Spain, by contrast, exhibit higher absolute and relative penetration, consistent with our view

that AI poses a bigger threat to conti Europe, where distribution remains more agent-led and

margins may have further to fall (see AI de-rating in Div Fins overdone; only just starting in

Insurance).

While we would also flag the 9% headline adoption across countries and age groups is higher

than we thought given demographics of Euro consumers and fairly recent rise of AI, we note

there might be a selection bias in the number given that it’s based on an online survey (as far as

we understand).

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The week that was – connecting the dots

• AXA / SCOR / Lancashire / Conduit 1H/2Q26 results

AXA (see AXA: 1H26 First Take - Steady, healthy, over-capitalised. and AXA: Key takeaways

from 1H26 conference call): The print was marginally better than consensus, with no big

surprises either way in underlying trends. Underlying earnings came in 1% ahead of cons,

with P&C broadly in line, L&H 4% better and Holding costs somewhat higher (though

stable/in line with guidance). Key highlights, in our view: 1. strong solvency (218%, 3ppts

ahead of cons mostly thanks to regulatory and model changes); 2. strong Life (CSM 1.7%