December 16, 2005 Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders Insurance

Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced that it has reached an agreement with AXA Canada Inc. which will conclude the investigation it initiated in March 2005 into the trade practices of the damage insurance firms represented by the company.

“Our investigation has not detected any fraudulent act by the firms AXA represents, nor has it identified anything indicating the firms’ clients had been injured or suffered damage. However, we have concluded that improvement is needed with respect to disclosure to consumers of some of the insurance firms’ business relationships and certain components of agreements between AXA and these firms”, said Jean St-Gelais, President and CEO of the AMF.

Under the terms of the agreement between AXA Canada Inc. and the AMF, AXA Canada has undertaken to make the firms’ practices for disclosing business relationships more stringent, and change some components of the agreements between AXA and some of the firms. AXA will also pay the AMF $650,000, in particular to reimburse the costs of the investigation.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.

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Information:

Media only:
Philippe Roy (514) 940-2176
Issuers, dealers, advisers and representatives: (877) 525-0337, choose option 9 for English, then 1 for industry
Consumers and investors: (877) 525-0337, choose option 9 for English, then 8 for consumers