LEASES - Operating lease liabilities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Feb. 01, 2020
Year ended December 31,
Expected cash flows, year one	$ 23,262	$ 22,817
Expected cash flows, year two	19,725	23,598
Expected cash flows, year three	13,556	20,190
Expected cash flows, year four	12,924	14,478
Expected cash flows, year five	10,770	13,849
Later years	66,705	78,987
Discount	(27,430)	(33,656)
Total discounted operating lease liabilities	$ 119,512	$ 140,263	$ 40,000

Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, Discounted Amount

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	axs_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease due after fifth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123408670&loc=SL77918701-209980

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease to be paid in next fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseLiabilityPaymentsDueNextTwelveMonths
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease to be paid in fifth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseLiabilityPaymentsDueYearFive
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease to be paid in fourth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseLiabilityPaymentsDueYearFour
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease to be paid in third fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseLiabilityPaymentsDueYearThree
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of lessee's undiscounted obligation for lease payment for operating lease to be paid in second fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeaseLiabilityPaymentsDueYearTwo
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Present value of lessee's discounted obligation for lease payments from operating lease.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123391704&loc=SL77918627-209977

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingLeaseLiability
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant