Tizzio: Axis’ ‘really strong progress’ in improving service levels fueling turnaround

By James Thaler

June 2 - (The Insurer) - Axis CEO Vince Tizzio said feedback gleaned from a net promoter score survey has spurred improved response times and service levels, helping to fuel the company’s turnaround, as he also detailed its strategy to slash expenses and deploy AI.

Tizzio made those comments in a fireside chat at last week’s E&S Insurer Conference 2025, where he also said market conditions continue to be “generally favorable” while expressing caution regarding the property market.

Tizzio was asked how distribution relationships have evolved in recent years as he and his management team have been repositioning Axis, and he answered by describing the results of a net promoter score survey undertaken when he joined in June 2022.

“(The results) had come back, and having come from a company that used those insights to understand our starting point, I was pretty disappointed with where we were in so far as our responsiveness, our call engagement, our listening and, frankly, our expectation setting,” he said.

“And so over the last couple of years, we've made really strong progress. We're achieving what I would consider top quartile findings in those surveys, and it's an opportunity for us to recognize, still, what we have to do to realize our full detection,” he explained.

CARRIER M&A ENVIRONMENT ‘FAIRLY UNCERTAIN’

Commenting on the wave of big distribution M&A deals, Tizzio said Axis “certainly sees the sensibility of what’s going on (and) the notion of he who is closest to the customer is king.”

“On the balance sheet side of the ledger, I would submit to you that it's a fairly uncertain environment,” he said, pointing to reserve strengthening by carriers around the industry.

“You think about the global uncertainty…both economically and also socially, and it's a period where I think you have to really think carefully,” Tizzio said.

“We've said publicly that we're focusing on building Axis. We have the capabilities, we have the people. Most importantly, we have the capital, and we still have a journeyman mile to grow in our market share,” the CEO said, while declining to say if Axis would participate in M&A.

Tizzio also highlighted “micro” market conditions, aggressive competition in property, especially from London, means that market softening is happening “probably in a way that's a bit larger than it ought to be” given elevated cat activity.

Tizzio pointed to Axis’ recent run of strong results and echoed previous comments that conditions “continue to be competitive” and that Axis sees conditions “as generally favorable.”

“We still think there's a market to be growing the organization profitably, but quite selectively,” he added.

“We can't get complacent. We can't be satisfied by the momentum with the progress that we've made. We have to remain humble and earnest at earning our wallet share with any intermediary,” Tizzio argued.

“And, candidly, we have a next generation of teammates that we have to develop to find new friends and build on our portfolio. So we're working hard on a number of fronts.”

AI: WE WANT STAFF TO KNOW THEY HAVE A PLACE AT AXIS

Tizzio described Axis’ deployment of AI as a “multi-year strategy” with a three-pronged approach aimed at identifying what the technology can achieve, determining an appropriate level of investment and assessing how it will impact staff, while also providing maximum transparency.

He added that Axis’ approach to AI first began with establishing a governance structure, and expressed skepticism that the technology would replace people.

“We don't have tens of thousands of people, but the people we have we really value, we want them to know that they have a place at Axis,” he commented. We're transparent. Of course, we want to have rationalization of expense,” he said.

“We want to have productivity gains, and ultimately, we'd like to benefit from insights,” Tizzio said, adding the company is “well down the road” in identifying areas to use AI for efficiency gains as well as establishing pattern recognition to help with risk selection.

Axis is currently piloting AI technology with an aim to improve quoting speeds, bind ratios and communication regarding its appetite.

“And all that said, we're using AI in 11 different areas of our company, and so it's a strategy that our board cares about, we're putting a lot of capital behind it,” he noted, saying that Axis management is headed to Silicon Valley this week with a number of the firm’s partners.

“Its ambition is to create productivity gains, expense rationalization and ultimately risk selection insights. We're not there yet, but we're working hard at it,” he said.

Axis’ share price has nearly doubled in the two years since Tizzio took over running it, hitting $100 per share for the first time earlier this year, notching an all-time high.

“The dialog with investors is entirely different than two years ago,” Tizzio said. “Most of us in this room have a lot of experience, and I can tell you, when you take a reserve charge, it's one of the big punches in an underwriter's stomach... it's an indictment of your underwriting results.

“But after we took that reserve charge, we really locked arms as an organization and made certain that we understood the consequence of that action. We have to thank our wholesale partners for allowing us to execute that product strategy, understanding that we want both of us to win, and it's a trade that can only sustain itself if we both win economically, and the areas that we took the charge against we were losing very badly."

Tizzio concluded his remarks by saying the company feels “very good” about its current reserving position.

“We have confidence in our capital position to meet our near and long term liabilities, to pay those claims faithfully, timely and within the spirit of the contract that we we both sign on to,” he said.

Watch the full interview with Axis Capital CEO Vince Tizzio to hear more on:

• How Axis used feedback from an NPS survey to make strong improvements to service

• Axis’ “generally favorable” view of market conditions, with property softening more “than it ought to be”

• “Fairly uncertain” M&A market conditions for carriers

• Axis’ multi-year AI strategy for expense and productivity gains and better risk selection

• Why return-to-office is important and mental health is a major focal point for the firm

• Why dialog with shareholders is “entirely different than two years ago”

• And more…