AXA vs JPMorgan Chase: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: AXA and JPMorgan Chase side by side

1. 1799JPMorgan Chase

   Manhattan Company Chartered

   Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton led the effort to obtain a New York charter for the Manhattan Company.

2. 1817AXA

   Founding of the Compagnie d'Assurances Mutuelles contre l'Incendie

   Jacques-Théodore le Carpentier and 17 other property owners in Rouen set up a mutual fire insurance company, the earliest predecessor of AXA. It stayed a Normandy mutual, later called Ancienne Mutuelle, for more than a century.

3. 1871JPMorgan Chase

   Drexel, Morgan & Co. Formed

   J. Pierpont Morgan and Anthony Drexel formed Drexel, Morgan & Co. in New York. The partnership developed into J.P. Morgan & Co., creating the Morgan banking lineage that would remain separate from Chase until the companies combined in 2000.

4. 1907JPMorgan Chase

   Panic of 1907

   During the Panic of 1907, J. Pierpont Morgan organized bankers and other private participants to support strained financial institutions. The episode became a defining part of the Morgan firm's history in an era before the Federal Reserve existed.

5. 1955JPMorgan Chase

   Chase Manhattan Created

   The Bank of the Manhattan Company merged with Chase National Bank to form Chase Manhattan Bank. This combination joined the firm's oldest 1799 predecessor with the Chase name and created the institution that later merged with J.P. Morgan.

6. 1975AXA

   Claude Bébéar becomes chief executive

   Bébéar, recruited in 1958 by André Sahut d'Izarn, took over the Anciennes Mutuelles group in 1975 after Sahut d'Izarn's death and the settlement of a strike that had paralysed the company in April 1974.

7. 1982AXA

   Takeover of the Drouot Group

   Bébéar took control of the Drouot Group, then the leading private French insurance group, and became its chairman alongside his role at Mutuelles Unies.

8. 1985AXA

   Creation of the AXA name

   The group adopted the invented name AXA, short and pronounceable in any language, and Bébéar moved from running the insurance companies to chairing the group.

9. 1986AXA

   Acquisition of the Présence Group

   AXA bought the Présence Group in April 1986, continuing the consolidation of French insurers.

10. 1988AXA

    Merger with Compagnie du Midi

    The merger with Compagnie du Midi made AXA the second-largest French insurance group behind UAP and brought Equity and Law, then the sixth-largest life insurer in the United Kingdom. Bébéar was elected Manager of the Year the same year.

11. 1991AXA

    Control of The Equitable in the United States

    After a failed attempt to buy Farmers, AXA agreed in July 1991 to demutualise and take control of The Equitable, then the fifth-largest life insurer in the United States, which also brought Alliance Capital Management.

12. 1996AXA

    Acquisition of UAP

    AXA bought UAP, a French insurer twice its size, doubling its French business and reaching critical mass in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany. The merger took effect in 1997.

13. 1999AXA

    Guardian Royal Exchange and Nippon Dantai

    Guardian Royal Exchange joined AXA in early 1999, adding scale in United Kingdom property, casualty and health insurance, and AXA took control of Nippon Dantai, then the thirteenth-largest life insurer in Japan.

14. 2000JPMorgan Chase

    Chase and J.P. Morgan Merge

    Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan & Co. completed their merger, combining commercial and consumer banking with investment banking and institutional services. JPMorgan Chase identifies this transaction as the formation of the modern company.

15. 2004JPMorgan Chase

    Bank One Merger

    JPMorgan Chase completed its $58.546 billion stock-for-stock merger with Bank One on July 1.

16. 2006AXA

    Acquisition of Winterthur

    AXA agreed to buy Winterthur from Credit Suisse for ~$14.8 billion (CHF 12.3 billion), about $8.93 billion (EUR 7.9 billion) in cash, strengthening its position in Switzerland, Germany and central and eastern Europe.

17. 2006JPMorgan Chase

    Jamie Dimon Becomes CEO

    Jamie Dimon succeeded William B. Harrison Jr. as chief executive on January 1. Dimon had joined JPMorgan Chase as president and chief operating officer when the Bank One merger closed and became chairman one year after becoming CEO.

18. 2008JPMorgan Chase

    Bear Stearns Acquired

    JPMorgan Chase completed its acquisition of Bear Stearns during the financial crisis.

19. 2008JPMorgan Chase

    Washington Mutual Operations Acquired

    After Washington Mutual Bank entered FDIC receivership, JPMorgan Chase paid $1.9 billion to acquire its banking operations, including assets, deposits, and qualified financial contracts under the transaction terms.

20. 2011AXA

    Sale of AXA Canada

    AXA sold its Canadian operations to Intact Financial Corp. for ~$1.87 billion (C$2.6 billion) as part of a portfolio review.

21. 2018AXA

    Acquisition of XL Group

    AXA bought XL Group for $15.3 billion in cash, shifting the group toward commercial property and casualty lines and creating the AXA XL platform.

22. 2023JPMorgan Chase

    First Republic Acquired from FDIC

    JPMorgan Chase acquired the substantial majority of First Republic Bank's assets and assumed deposits and certain liabilities from the FDIC.

23. 2024AXA

    Launch of the Unlock the Future plan

    With its 2023 results in February 2024 AXA presented a 2024 to 2026 plan targeting underlying earnings per share growth of 6% to 8% a year, an underlying return on equity of 14% to 16% and a new capital management policy.

24. 2025AXA

    Sale of AXA Investment Managers to BNP Paribas

    AXA completed the sale of AXA Investment Managers to BNP Paribas Cardif on July 1, 2025 for ~$5.76 billion (EUR 5.1 billion) in cash, a total transaction value of ~$6.1 billion (EUR 5.4 billion), and signed a long-term agreement for BNP Paribas to manage a lar…

25. 2025AXA

    Death of founder Claude Bébéar

    AXA announced on November 4, 2025 that Claude Bébéar, its founder and Honorary Chairman, had died at the age of 90. He ran the group from 1975 to 2000 and created the AXA name in 1985.

26. 2025JPMorgan Chase

    FY2025 Net Revenue of $182.447B

    JPMorgan Chase reported U.S. GAAP total net revenue of $182.447 billion and net income of $57.048 billion. Its managed, fully taxable-equivalent segment presentation reported $185.581 billion of total net revenue across CCB, CIB, AWM, and Corporate.

27. 2026JPMorgan Chase

    Chase to Become Apple Card Issuer

    On January 7, 2026 Apple and Chase announced that Chase will replace Goldman Sachs as Apple Card issuer over about 24 months.

28. 2026JPMorgan Chase

    Co-Presidents Named

    Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh were named co-presidents in June 2026, and Marianne Lake announced her retirement.

Acquisitions

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