Axa, Europe's second-largest insurer, said it would boost earnings and cut debt as part of a 2015 plan to bolster investor confidence in its future growth path.

Axa is targeting an underlying earnings-per-share growth rate of 10 per cent by 2015 on a compound annual growth basis, the French group said in a statement ahead of an investor day today.

Axa reiterated its aim to find €1.5 billion in pre-tax cost savings, which it said would come from mature markets. By 2013 the group said it will have reached €800 million in pre-tax savings.

The group is targeting an adjusted return on equity of 15 per cent in 2015 and a debt gearing level of 25 per cent, down from 28 per cent at end 2010.

Reuters