The chief executive of AXA UK & Ireland is to leave his role, the company revealed this morning.

Paul Evans exits the position he has held since 2010, after he was hired as chief executive of AXA Global Life & Savings and of AXA Global Health, and appointed to the AXA Group Management Committee. This AXA’s senior executive governance body, with responsibility globally for the Group’s Life, Savings and Health businesses.

Amanda Blanc will become chief executive of AXA UK and Ireland. Both appointments will be effective from 1 July 2016.

The job changes come as part of other major news breaking from the company today, as AXA UK announced it has agreed to sell its remaining non-platform UK investment and pensions business and its direct protection business SunLife to Phoenix Group Holdings.

Under Mr Evans’ leadership the UK and Ireland business completed a “remarkable turnaround, achieving each of its commitments to the AXA group’s ‘ambition AXA’ five year strategy and delivering five consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth”, the company stated.

Mr Evans will be responsible for shaping and executing the group’s strategy for both lines of business, with direct responsibility for AXA’s global operations in these markets.

He said: “I am very proud to be joining Thomas Buberl’s leadership team and to be taking on the challenge of leading the group’s life, savings and health businesses as the group commences the next phase of its strategic journey.”

He said: “It has been a great privilege to lead AXA UK & Ireland over the past five years, and I am really pleased to pass the leadership to Amanda. She has a very impressive track record and has shown to be an inspiring leader in the successful transformation of our general insurance business. I am very confident her experience and drive will deliver even greater success for our businesses over the coming years.”

Ms Blanc said: “It is a great honour to take over the reins of AXA UK and Ireland from Paul who has done a fantastic job in leading us through a very successful turnaround. We are a business that sits at the forefront of our chosen markets – insurance and healthcare* – and we now face an entirely new set of challenges.

“My focus will be on ensuring we have the right culture to deliver consistent, sustainable financial success from a model that is dependent upon great customer outcomes. The insurance and healthcare markets are ripe for disruption and I am determined that AXA UK will be the engineer of that disruption rather than a victim of it.”