AXA announces the future CEOs of the business units in Northern & Eastern Europe and the UK & Ireland regions following the closing of the transaction PARIS, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S., Swiss and European Commission anti-trust authorities have now approved the acquisition of Winterthur by AXA. Subject to the closing of the transaction (expected on December 31, 2006) and to obtaining necessary corporate governance and regulatory approvals, AXA announces the following appointments for the enlarged Northern Europe region (which will become the Northern & Eastern Europe Region including the Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe) as well as in the UK & Ireland Region to take effect on January 1, 2007. The Northern & Eastern Europe Region will be placed under the supervision of Alfred Bouckaert, currently CEO of AXA Belgium and Group Regional CEO for Northern Europe (Benelux, Germany & Switzerland). Alfred Bouckaert is a member of the AXA Executive Committee. - CEO of the insurance and banking activities in Belgium will be Eugene Teysen, currently CEO of AXA Konzern in Germany. Eugene Teysen will join the AXA Executive Committee on October 1, 2006 - CEO of the insurance and banking activities in Switzerland will be Philippe Egger, currently CEO of Winterthur Switzerland. He will join the AXA Executive Committee on January 1, 2007. - CEO of the insurance and banking activities in Germany will be Frank Keuper, currently CEO of DBV Winterthur in Germany. - CEO of the insurance and banking activities in The Netherlands will be Jan Van Den Berg, currently CEO of AXA Netherlands. - An Eastern Europe zone will be created with Willem Wynaendts as CEO. Willem Wynaendts is currently CEO of AXA Assurances in Switzerland. Will report to him: -- The CEO of the Polish Life & Pensions business Maciej Szwarc, currently CEO of Winterthur Poland -- The CEO of the businesses in the Czech Republic and Slovakia Petr Zaluda, currently CEO of Winterthur Czech Republic and Slovakia -- The CEO of the businesses in Hungary Walter Tauchner, currently CEO Winterthur Hungary In the UK & Ireland Region, under the supervision of CEO Nicolas Moreau, Mike Kellard who is CEO of Winterthur UK, will report to Paul Evans, CEO of AXA Life (a business unit of AXA UK). Following the closing of the transaction, these proposed nominations will be submitted to the Boards and regulators of the relevant legal entities for all necessary corporate governance and regulatory approvals. The executives designated above will announce their organizations and their new teams' structure in the course of October 2006. Other executive designations in Europe and Asia will be made and communicated in the weeks to come. Biographies of the above referenced executives are available on http://www.axa.com/ or http://www.winterthur.ch/ About AXA AXA Group is a worldwide leader in Financial Protection. AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA had Euro 1,091 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2006, and reported total revenues of Euro 41 billion and underlying earnings of Euro 2,090 million for the first half of 2006. The AXA ordinary share is listed and trades under the symbol AXA on the Paris Stock Exchange. The AXA American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA. This press release is available on the AXA Group web site: http://www.axa.com/ INVESTOR RELATIONS: Etienne Bouas Laurent: +33.1.40.75.46.85 Emmanuel Touzeau: +33.1.40.45.49.05 Sophie Bourlanges: +33.1.40.75.56.07 Kevin Molloy: +1.212.314.2893 MEDIA RELATIONS: Christophe Dufraux: +33.1.40.75.46.74 Clara Rodrigo: +33.1.40.75.47.22 Armelle Vercken: +33.1.40.75.46.42 Mary Taylor: +1.212.314.5845 WARNING Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements that are predications of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that could cause actual results and AXA's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements (or from past results). These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, timely execution and closing of the Winterthur acquisition. Please refer to AXA's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005 and AXA's Document de Reference for the year ended December 31, 2005, for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect AXA's business. AXA undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. DATASOURCE: AXA CONTACT: INVESTOR RELATIONS: Etienne Bouas Laurent: +33.1.40.75.46.85, Emmanuel Touzeau: +33.1.40.45.49.05, Sophie Bourlanges: +33.1.40.75.56.07, Kevin Molloy: +1.212.314.2893, or MEDIA RELATIONS: Christophe Dufraux: +33.1.40.75.46.74, Clara Rodrigo: +33.1.40.75.47.22, Armelle Vercken: +33.1.40.75.46.42, Mary Taylor: +1.212.314.5845 Web site: http://www.axa.com/ http://www.winterthur.ch/

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