AXA Group has embarked on a simplification of its operating model that will see the organisation restructured into five geographies and a single, refocused corporate centre.

The five geographies are France, Europe, the US, Asia, and international, while the new corporate centre represents a reduction from the current three layer structure of head office, global business lines and regional divisions.

AXA expects the new operating model to be effective in the first quarter of 2018.

The French carrier said that its specialty, large risks insurance business AXA Corporate Solutions and asset management arm AXA Investment Managers will be run alongside the five geographies, with the CEOs of these two divisions continuing to report to AXA’s Group CEO. Furthermore, as part of this simplification effort, in Europe, direct and traditional entities will report to the country CEO to accelerate the synergies between direct and traditional business, it said.

As part of the shake-up, AXA also announced a host of senior appointments to steer the new operating model.

CFO Gérald Harlin and general secretary George Stansfield have been appointed deputy CEOs, in addition to their existing responsibilities.

AXA chief transformation officer Benoît Claveranne has been named CEO of international and new markets, while Mark Pearson, president and CEO of AXA Financial in the US, will become CEO of AXA US. Jacques de Peretti remains chairman and CEO of AXA France.

Antimo Perretta, previously CEO of AXA Winterthur in Switzerland, has been appointed CEO Europe, whilst former executive board member of AXA in Germany, Astrid Strange, has been named chief operating officer.

Meanwhile, Alban de Mailly Nesle will take on the additional responsibility of the new Group Insurance office whilst continuing his role as group chief risk officer.

Regional AIA chief executive Gordon Watson will join the management committee on 1 January 2018 as CEO Asia.

AXA announced that Gaëlle Olivier, CEO of AXA Global P&C, and Paul Evans, CEO of AXA Global Life, Savings & Health, will leave the group.

The new management committee appointments are effective from 1 December.

AXA CEO Thomas Buberl said: "My objective is to let our teams focus their energy on growing our business and deliver excellent service in their respective markets.

"I am convinced that local empowerment is instrumental to the long-term success of AXA, by making our transformation tangible on the ground, as close as possible to our clients.

"In order to achieve this, the simplification we are implementing is an absolute pre-requisite, but also the starting point of a large effort to make AXA simpler for all our stakeholders."