 | A new name for AXA Nordstern Art Insurance: Exclusive provider of art insurance reinforces its AXA identity. Effective October 1, 2001, the world's leading fine art insurance specialist has changed its name from AXA Nordstern Art Insurance Corporation to AXA Art Insurance Corporation. This change reflects the Company's position within the global AXA Group and is a result of AXA's endeavor to build a worldwide brand. "Being part of the AXA Group enables us to draw on the financial resources and global presence of one of the world's largest providers of financial services", notes Dr. Dietrich von Frank, President and CEO of AXA Art Insurance Corporation. "This ability", he continues, "combined with our unmatched expertise and focus, will further consolidate AXA Art's position as the authority in fine art and collectibles insurance and related services in the United States and beyond." AXA Group is a worldwide leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA had $805 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2001, and reported revenues of approximately $35.1 billion for the first half of 2001. In the United States, as much as anywhere else in the world, the Nordstern name, over the past decades, stood for the highest quality and expertise in the business of art insurance. Nordstern Art Insurance was founded in the United States in 1987 by insurance and art professionals to address an urgent need: provide expert, affordable insurance coverage to the owners of fine art and collectibles. To this day, the company is the only insurance provider in the U.S. to focus exclusively on fine art and collectibles, underwriting many of the country's most prestigious collections. In addition to providing flexible, tailor-made short or long term coverage, the company assists its insured—individuals, corporations, museums, galleries, trusts and traveling exhibitions—with the overall protection and preservation of their collections. Following its acquisition by AXA in 1997, the Company has increasingly become an integral part of the art world community supporting not-for-profit institutions as well as serving the growing number of private collectors. AXA Art's Web site www.AXA-Art.com features "Collector's World", an Internet platform dedicated to providing expert advice on collecting, owning and protecting fine art and collectibles. The Company's latest and most visible engagement to help furthering the preservation of art objects has been the "AXA Art Conservation Project", a three-year joint research effort with The Museum of Modern Art and The Guggenheim Museum on the restoration of minimalist art. As a specialist insurer, AXA Art has always been dedicated to providing products and services that would meet the needs of its collector clients. "Flexibility, high capacity, expert underwriting and swift and professional claims handling are characteristics that have always defined our company", states Dr. von Frank. "Going forward, we are poised to build further upon those pillars of our success." AXA Art is the world's leading art and collectibles insurance specialist in the world with offices in London, Paris, Milan, Zurich, Madrid, Brussels, Cologne, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Beverly Hills. Other members of the AXA Group in the United States include AXA Financial (formerly The Equitable Group) and its companies AXA Advisors, Equitable Life, Alliance Capital and Sanford Bernstein. CONTACT: Christiane Fischer
Director Communications
AXA Art Insurance Corp.
Tel: 212.415.8427
Fax: 212.415.8420
cfischer@axa-art-usa.com |
