AXA France offers an olive branch to disgruntled restaurant customers

AXA France has offered a financial solution to the 15,000 restaurant customers who have its standard contract, which includes an extended guarantee for operating losses following an administrative closure.

AXA France has made €300 million available to clients via a fixed and final indemnity. The proposed transactional indemnity covers 15 percent of the turnover of the catering activity over the period of the administrative measures that prohibited them opening to the public, between March 14, 2020 and October 29, 2020.

The offer is expected to be available from June 21 until September 30, 2021.

AXA France insisted it remains convinced of the clarity of the guarantees of the contracts concerned, which do not cover collective administrative closures, as recognised by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.

Patrick Cohen, chief executive officer of AXA France, said he regretted “the lack of understanding that has developed with some of our restaurant customers, even though this sector has been particularly affected by the health crisis.”

With restaurants now in a position to reopen, AXA wants “to act so that everyone can look to the future and resolutely embark on the path of business recovery,” he added.

Benjamin Serra, an analyst at Moody’s, said: “The proposed settlement offered by AXA, if accepted, would reduce the uncertainty related to the ultimate costs of business interruption claims as well as the large news flow around conflicts opposing the group and its clients, which could affect AXA’s reputation. This transaction will only have a limited impact on the group’s results.”

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