Axa has cut a full-year profit forecast and says a continued economic downturn may render a long-term growth target obsolete.

CEO Henri de Castries told a Paris investor conference last week full-year underlying earnings are this year expected to reach between €3.6-4 billion ($7-8 billion).

In August, the insurer predicted earnings would fall in line with last year’s €4.9 billion ($9.5 billion) result.

Mr de Castries also distanced the company from Axa’s stated goal of tripling earnings and doubling revenue by 2012.

“Even if market developments make increasingly obsolete the assumptions that underpinned Axa’s 2012 financial targets, the fundamental growth drivers of the insurance industry are, if anything, reinforced by a crisis that increases customer risk aversion and retirement funding needs,” he said.

“The current turmoil is an unprecedented challenge for financial institutions, but Axa has a clear business model, a solid balance sheet and highly engaged teams.”

Axa claims the company is backed by a sound balance sheet and had a solvency 1 ratio of 135% at the end of October.