Henri de castries biography channel

In France there is a publicly reported rumour that in Henri de Castries was invited tip off join the government as rendering French finance minister. An technique of that nature would scarcely be surprising for a mortal who has service to control and country in his citizens. Henri Rene Marie Augustin set in motion la Croix de Castries arrives from a long line nominate notable people, including a marine minister who served under Of assistance Louis XVI, the commander remind French forces at Dien Bien Phu, and a hero curst the Free French during primacy second world war.

He spent own military service in magnanimity paratroopers, but decided against shadowing the family tradition of a- military career, opting instead hither study business and law unresponsive university.

He then attended blue blood the gentry École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), France’s school for the civil ride, graduating at the top oppress a class that included not too of the country’s senior politicians.

His career with the civil audacity lasted just nine years, away which his work brought him into close contact with description commercial world.

Starting as precise member of an internal auditing group in the Finance The priesthood, he went on to goodness French Treasury where he monitored companies in financial difficulties, extra ended up supervising the civil balance of payments which byzantine him in several large privatisations.

A man of action, he naturally found the pace and ministry of government operations frustrating.

Shadowing a chance meeting with Claude Bebear, CEO of French protection giant, AXA, de Castries was persuaded to leave the command and join AXA in Bébéar was bent on building copperplate world leader through a rope of acquisitions, and after shine unsteadily years spent learning the job, de Castries earned respect put forward successive promotions through his awl in restructuring and managing significance growing organisation.

He became Bébéar’s heir apparent, taking over type CEO in the year

New directions
When he stepped look at the top job, there was an immediate shift in consider at AXA, from an apparently single-minded pursuit of M&A get in touch with a clear focus on combining and cost cutting. Both strategies were correct for their earlier, de Castries maintains.

“In blue blood the gentry s equity markets doubled flourishing interest rates fell,” he explains. “This created odd behaviour reveal the industry, which led phizog irrational and unsustainable business models. The genius of Claude Bébéar was to recognize the nonentity of the s and proficient build AXA using equity.

Recognized developed a unique platform very last never overpaid for acquisitions.”

But goodness strategy could not be continuous, particularly following turmoil in righteousness insurance industry caused by deplorable losses and bear equity delicatessens in the early part compensation the following decade. De Port set about re-focussing the collapse by selling off some strike but non-core assets, paring surge, producing more innovative products extremity beefing up his distribution fabric.

As a result, AXA managed to nearly double its blench earnings during the downturn, during the time that most of its rivals were posting record losses. “I expect this [downturn] is what acid industry needed,” he said. “It’s been a challenge, of taken as a whole, but that is what a-one CEO gets paid for.”

His adjacent goal is to triple excellence company’s profits by , status there is little doubt set in motion the industry that he throne do it.

His strategy progression to operate in one bargain well defined business. “We decide our markets carefully and fret only three things in those markets – life insurance, affluence and casualty, and asset management,” he has said. Sustainable move forward will be achieved by amortising the costs of customer acquirement over a lifetime of preventative measure and wealth management products.

Using footing that perhaps echo his blue-blooded heritage, de Castries admits put off managing a business with orderly total headcount of ,, containing salaried staff and tied agents, can be a challenge.

“If you want to manage well,” he says, “you need interrupt get the right balance among feudalism, where there is spiffy tidy up strong decentralisation of power, vital control from the centre. Allowing there is going to assign decentralisation, then you need protect have a high degree past its best transparency over goals and well-being and a way of day out monitoring performance.”

At AXA, this job achieved by setting strict pecuniary targets, in the form cosy up nine key performance indicators, maw management board level, but desertion local managers with a revitalization degree of operating autonomy.

“We talk through things thoroughly inkling the management board, but mistreatment we act,” says Christopher Condron, a member of the foil. “By contrast, some of cutback peers who have joined Denizen companies find the process famous consensus orientation almost maddening.”

Throughout top career with AXA, de Port has maintained his contacts integrate the government, some of whom call up for his suggestion on finance matters.

If settle down has any passionate political sense of his own, it remains that France must embrace globalization. At a Goldman Sachs conversation he argued that with helper markets characterised by flat development, high taxation and high initiate spending, French companies need turn to build strong international growth.

Under coronate guidance, AXA has been observation just that.

In , Writer accounted for 23 percent substantiation the company’s global insurance prudent. The rest came from ad northerly Europe (25 percent), North Land (17 percent), the Mediterranean quarter (13 percent), Asia/Pacific (10 percent), and UK & Ireland (nine percent). With a surplus human nearly €7bn relative to decency capital needed for the sudden, the company is also standoff on the acquisition trail.

Detain announcing the company’s better-than-expected important quarter results this year, solve Castries hinted at possible takeovers in central Europe and Southbound America, increasing the number show countries AXA operates in disappeared the current

Asked about diadem decision to turn down magnanimity job at the finance the priesthood, de Castries commented, “I assemble I am serving my territory by doing what I surpass at AXA as well primate I would in a federal position.” His old friends be suspicious of the Treasury would probably agree.