Paul Hollands is Chief Data and Analytics Officer at AXA, leading data and AI across the UK and Ireland. With data at the heart of AXA’s business strategy, his focus is on ensuring that data and analytics deliver clear value for customers and the organisation, while building teams that lead through practical impact rather than technology for its own sake.
Paul has held senior data leadership roles across banking and insurance. At NatWest, he led the bank’s £100 million data transformation programme, delivering category-leading data capabilities and launching the NatWest Data Academy to build enterprise-wide data skills and literacy. His work helped transform how data was used to personalise customer interactions and support more informed decision-making across retail and commercial banking.
He later joined Hastings, where he led a major data transformation in a faster-paced insurance environment. There, he significantly upgraded the organisation’s data and analytics capabilities, unlocking new value opportunities and embedding data more deeply into day-to-day decision-making.
Across his career, Paul has been committed to developing data capability at scale, launching academies and programmes to improve data literacy and nurture future talent. He is an active contributor to the wider industry, having participated in the Open Banking strategy group and supported diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the data and technology community.
Paul is recognised for building high-performing teams and delivering innovation that is grounded in business and customer outcomes, with a strong emphasis on responsible use of data and AI.