About

AXA Mexico is the Mexican arm of the major global insurance company, and has a diverse portfolio of insurance and financial services products and practices. The in-house legal team serving the business is led by general secretary Javier Oroz, acting also as general counsel, and contains 38 lawyers including Karla Acosta, head of corporate and secretary of the board; Marco Urrea, chief compliance officer; Raymundo Arenas, head of litigation; and Yolanda Moreno, head of contracts, recoveries and legal partners. The team includes 116 support staff who are industry specialists in the customer complaints, public affairs, corporate responsibility and crisis management fields. In the past year, the team has been at the forefront of innovation within the insurance industry in Mexico with its consultations with regulators and implementation of new policy. The team consulted on the creation of special protocols with insurance regulators in case of natural disasters such as hurricanes and the recent earthquakes in Mexico City. It successfully filed as Mexican Insurance Association (AMIS), as an amicus curiae resource, in the Supreme Court in defence of the insurance industry in the relevant case related to joint obligations of insurance companies for medical malpractice. The team also lobbied for the implementation of new regulations to allow e-commerce in insurance business. The team was responsible from the legal side of the major deal involving Uber and AXA México developing a unique insurance coverage to protect drivers, passengers and third parties as well as the Mexican element of AXA’s acquisition of XL Mexico. AXA became the first insurance company and the first financial institution in México to obtain the “fame” legal declaration from the Mexican Institute for Industrial Property (IMPI). Oroz highlights that AXA ‘became the first insurance company in Mexico to obtain an authorisation from the insurance regulator (CNSF) to incorporate a digital signature in insurance contracts and related services and the team has been involved in around 40 M&A deals in which AXA acquire franchises. The size of the whole operations rounds in at US$37m’.