Allianz

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Allianz SE
Societas Europaea
Traded as FWB: ALV
OTCQX: AZSEY
Industry Financial services
Founded 1890; 134 years ago (1890)
Headquarters Munich, Germany
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Oliver Bäte (CEO)
Helmut Perlet (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Maximilian Zimmerer (CFO)
Products Insurance, banking, asset management
Revenue €122.3 billion (2014)[1]
€10.402 billion (2014)[1]
Profit €6.603 billion (2014)[1]
Total assets $805.787 billion (end 2014)[1]
Total equity $63.702 billion (end 2014)[1]
Number of employees
 147,425 (end 2014)[1]
Subsidiaries Allianz France
Allianz Worldwide Care
Allianz Global Investors
Risklab
Allianz Global Assistance
Allianz Insurance plc
Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty
Allianz Life
Club Marine
Hunter Premium Funding
Allianz Marine & Transit
Euler Hermes
Mondial Assistance Group
PIMCO
Website www.allianz.com

Allianz SE[2] (/ˈæliənts-/ AL-i-ənts; German pronunciation: [aliˈants] ( listen)) is a European financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. As of 2014, it is the world's largest insurance company, the largest financial services group and the largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine,[3] as well as the largest financial services company when measured by 2013 revenue. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[4]

Its Allianz Global Investors division ranks as a top-five global active investment manager, having €1,933 billion of assets under management (AuM), of which €1,408 billion are third-party assets (as of 2015-03-31), with specialized asset managers including PIMCO (bonds), RCM (equities) and Degi (real estate).

Allianz sold Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank in November 2008.[5] As a result of this merger, Allianz gained a 14% controlling stake in the new Commerzbank.

History

Foundation

File:Versicherungsschild der Allianz.JPG
313x313px

Allianz AG was founded in Berlin on 5 February 1890 by then director of the Munich Reinsurance Company Carl von Thieme (a native of Erfurt, whose father was the director of Thuringia) and Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co bank). The joint company was listed in Berlin's trade register[6] under the name Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft.[7] The first Allianz products were marine and accident policies first sold only in Germany, however in 1893 Allianz opened its first international branch office in London. It distributed marine insurance coverage to German clientele looking for coverage abroad.[8]

In 1900 the company became the first insurer to obtain a license to distribute corporate policies. In 1904 Paul Von Naher took over the sole leadership of the company, as it moved into the US and other markets. Markets entered by 1914 included the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States, and Allianz had become the largest maritime insurer in Germany.[8] The company suffered an early disaster in expansion, when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake caused the company to sustain 300,000 marks in losses. In 1905 the company acquired Fides Insurance Company, a firm that had innovated the first form of home invasion insurance.[9] Other places it would expand into during the 1910s and 1920s included Palestine, Cyprus, Iraq, China, the Dutch Indies, Ceylon, and Siam.[10]

20th century developments

In 1905 the company began to offer fire insurance, and in 1911 it began to sell machinery breakdown policies. Allianz remained the only company in the world that sold machine breakdown insurance until 1924. Then in 1918 it began to offer automobile insurance as well. In 1921 Von Naher died and was succeeded by Kurt Schmitt. The company would begin to offer life insurance as of 1922, becoming Europe's largest offerer of the policies by the end of the 1920s.

In 1927 Allianz merged with Stuttgarter Verein Versicherung AG and [8] two years later acquired the insurance businesses of Favag, a large German insurer that declared bankruptcy due to the onset of the Great Depression.[11] Expansion of the company then slowed until 1938[12] at which point it employed more than 24,000 people.[13] Christian Stadler wrote of the history of Allianz that it "shows how important it is to diversify into related areas to hedge against the risk of fundamental changes in markets and economies".[14]

During World War II the Berlin headquarters of Allianz were destroyed by Allied bombing runs.[15] Following the end of the war in 1945, Hans Heb became head of the company, and Allianz shifted its headquarters to Munich in 1949 due to the split between East and West Germany. Heb only held the position until 1948, when he was replaced by Hans Goudefroy. After World War II, global business activities were gradually resumed. Allianz opened an office in Paris in 1959, and started repurchasing stakes in former subsidiaries in Italy and Austria. In 1971 Wolfgang Schieren became the head of the company.

These expansions were followed in the 1970s by the establishment of business in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and the United States. In 1986, Allianz acquired Cornhill Insurance PLC, London, and the purchase of a stake in Riunione Adriatica di Sicurità (RAS), Milan, strengthened its presence in Western and Southern Europe in the 1980s.

In 1990, Allianz started an expansion into eight Eastern European countries with establishing a presence in Hungary. In the same decade, Allianz also acquired Fireman's Fund, an insurer in the United States, which was followed by the purchase of Assurances Générales de France (AGF), Paris. These acquisitions were followed by the expansion into Asia with several joint ventures and acquisitions in China and South Korea and the acquisition of Australia's Manufacturers Mutual Insurance. Around this time Allianz expanded its asset management business as well by purchasing for example asset management companies in California.[8]

21st century developments

The original Allianz logo, designed in 1923 by Karl Schulpig.
Allianz's current head office is located in Munich.

In April 2001, Allianz agreed to acquire the 80 per cent of Dresdner Bank that it did not already own for US$20 billion. As part of the transaction, Allianz agreed to sell its 13.5 per cent stake in HypoVereinsbank to Munich Re, and to acquire Munich Re's 40 per cent stake in Allianz Leben.[16] Following completion of the acquisition, Allianz and Dresdner Bank combined their asset management activities by forming Allianz Global Investors. In 2002, Michael Diekmann succeeded Henning Schulte-Noelle as CEO of Allianz AG. In June 2006, Allianz announced the layoff of 7,280 employees, about 4 percent of its worldwide work force at the time, as part of a restructuring program aimed at raising profitability. The reductions comprised 5,000 staff at Allianz insurance operations and 2,480 at Dresdner Bank. In the same month, Allianz announced that its Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment banking operation would be renamed as simply Dresdner Kleinwort.[17]

In September 2005, Allianz announced that it would convert its holding company into a Societas Europaea (SE; Latin: European Company), becoming one of the first major companies to do so. The conversion was made in conjunction with Allianz's acquisition of 100 per cent control of its principal Italian subsidiary Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà (RAS) for around US$7 billion. The conversion to an SE was completed on 13 October 2006.[18] The Allianz Group also simplified its brand strategy from 2006 and their previous emblem was replaced by the current combination mark.[19] By 2008 the company was Europe's largest insurer.[20]

On 31 August 2008, it was announced that Allianz had agreed to sell 60.2 per cent of Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank for €9.8 billion (US$14.4 billion), with an agreement that Commerzbank would acquire the remainder of Dresdner Bank by the end of 2009.[21] After renegotiations, it was announced in November 2008 that Commerzbank would acquire the 100% ownership of Dresdner Bank earlier (12 January 2009). The sale price was lowered to 5.5 billion Euro. Shortly after the transaction completed, Commerzbank was partially nationalized by the German government to save it from bankruptcy. Allianz currently retains a stake of around 14% in Commerzbank.[22]

In August 2015, a consortium led by Allianz acquired German motorway service station group Tank&Rast for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of €3.5 billion.[23]

Operations

Allianz has operations in over 70 countries and has around 147,000 employees. The parent company, Allianz SE, is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Allianz has more than 85 million customers worldwide and its services include property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance and asset management.[15] In 2013 it was number 25 on the global Forbes 2000 list.[24]

Countries in which Allianz currently has operations.

Australia

Tracing its roots back to 1914, Allianz Australia Insurance Limited operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and risk management products and services.[25] Subsidiaries of Allianz Australia include Club Marine, Allianz Life and Hunter Premium Funding.[26] In 2012, Allianz Australia announced a multi-year agreement with the SCG Trust to rename the Sydney Football Stadium to Allianz Stadium.[27]

Belgium

Allianz operates through Allianz Belgium, previously AGF Belgium which has been re-branded to Allianz Belgium in November 2007.[28]

Bulgaria

Allianz Bank Bulgaria headquarters in Sofia

Allianz Bank Bulgaria is a universal commercial bank having its headquarters in Sofia. It was established in 1997. On October 13, 2003 the bank received the name of its principal shareholder – Allianz Bulgaria Holding. Before that the bank was named ‘Bulgaria Invest’ Commercial Bank. Allianz Bank Bulgaria offers its products in more than hundred branches and offices all over the country, as well as through the broad agents’ network of Allianz Bulgaria Holding. The bank possesses a full banking license for carrying out banking and financial transactions.[29]

Canada

Allianz entered the Canadian market in the early 1990s through an acquisition of several North American insurers, namely the American Firemans Fund[30] and the Canadian Surety.[31] Upon the market exit the personal and commercial lines unit was sold off to the market leader ING Canada (Now Intact), and Allianz Canada ceased operations in 2004.[32] Its industrial underwriting branch was bought by Allianz US, which has retained the Toronto office.[33]

Germany

The Allianz complex in Alt-Treptow, Berlin

Allianz offers a wide range of general, life and health insurance products in Germany through its Allianz Deutschland AG subsidiary. It is the market leader in both the general and life insurance markets. Allianz products are distributed principally through a network of full-time tied agents. Since September 2010 Allianz products have also been sold through Commerzbank branches.[1]

The headquarters of Allianz - Slovenská poisťovňa in Bratislava

India

In India Allianz primarily operates through Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company & Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture between Allianz and Bajaj Finserv Limited. Bajaj Allianz has around 1,200 branches across India and offers services including unit-linked, traditional, health, child and pension policies.[34]

Indonesia

Allianz started its operations in Indonesia with a representative office in 1981.[35] In 1989, Allianz established PT Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia, a general insurance company.[36] Furthermore, Allianz entered the Indonesian life insurance market by opening PT Asuransi Allianz Life Indonesia in 1996.[37]

Italy

The Allianz Group in Italy is headed by composite insurance company Allianz SpA and it ranks second in terms of premiums written and fifth in terms of assets under management as well as fourth for financial advisors.

The Italian parent company, Allianz SpA, resulted from the integration – in October 2007 – of three former insurance companies: Ras, established in Trieste in 1838 and based in Milan (part of the Allianz Group since 1987), Lloyd Adriatico, established in 1836 and based in Trieste (part of the Allianz Group since 1995) and Allianz Subalpina, established in 1928 and based in Turin (formerly a subsidiary of Ras).

Pakistan

In Pakistan Allianz primarily operates through EFU Allianz Health Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture between Allianz and Eastern Federal Union.[38]

Slovakia

Allianz started its life and Property & Casualty (P&C) operation in Slovakia in 1993. In 2001 Allianz AG bought the majority ownership in then state-owned Slovenská poisťovňa (SP, Slovak Insurance Company). Upon the purchase SP held a market share of well over 50%. Upon the purchase the local Allianz operation was merged with SP creating a new company Allianz — Slovenská poisťovňa.[39]

United Kingdom

Allianz acquired British insurance company Cornhill Insurance plc in 1986, subsequently renamed Allianz Cornhill Insurance plc. This then simply became Allianz Insurance plc in April 2000.[40] It also owns the high-net-worth insurance broker Home and Legacy, which it purchased in 2006.[41] Their IT captive unit in India, ACIS is located at Technopark, Trivandrum in Kerala.[42] Allianz previously owned Kleinwort Benson, which it inherited when it acquired Dresdner Bank. The investment bank has subsequently been merged with the corporate bank of Dresdner Bank and rebranded as Dresdner Kleinwort.[43]

United States

Allianz has a presence within the United States, including Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and Fireman's Fund. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been ranked among the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine.[44] Allianz's investment arm, Allianz Global Investors (AGI), owns Pacific Investment Management Company, commonly called PIMCO, on the fixed income side, and RCM Capital Management and NFJ on the equities side.[45]

Senior management

CEOs to date

Years Name
1890–1904 Carl von Thieme
1894–1921 Paul von der Nahmer
1921–1933 Kurt Schmitt
1933–1948 Hans Hess
1948–1961 Hans Goudefroy
1962–1971 Alfred Haase
1971–1991 Wolfgang Schieren
1991–2003 Henning Schulte-Noelle
2003–2015 Michael Diekmann
2015–today Oliver Bäte

→ all senior management

Sponsorships

Allianz has been a key sponsor of Formula One since 2000.
The Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

Allianz provided naming rights for the Allianz Arena, a football stadium in the north of Munich, Germany. The two professional Munich football clubs Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 München have played their home games at Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season.[46] Other stadiums owned by Allianz include the Allianz Parque soccer stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Allianz Riviera soccer stadium in Nice, France, the Allianz Park rugby stadium in London, UK, and the Allianz Stadion, the new home of Rapid Vienna, a club from the Austrian Football Bundesliga.

Allianz had been in negotiations with the New York Jets and the Giants to buy naming rights to the New Meadowlands Stadium (now known as MetLife Stadium) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but those talks ended due to opposition from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors.[47]

Allianz owned the Polish football team Gornik Zabrze but sold its shares in the club in April 2011.[48] Allianz has been involved in Formula One since 2000, firstly as a sponsor of the AT&T Williams F1 Team,[49] and since 2011 as a sponsor of the Mercedes GP Petronas team.[50] In 2009 Allianz signed an agreement to become the Global Partner of the St. Andrews Links Trust.[51] In early 2012, Allianz entered an agreement with the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust which oversaw the Sydney Football Stadium being renamed Allianz Stadium.[52] 2012 also saw Allianz partner up with Saracens to be their main shirt sponsor as well as securing an £8m deal for naming rights to their new Barnet Copthall home to be called Allianz Park.[53]

The company has also been the sponsor of others sports, including the Women’s British Open (golf), Allianz Open de Lyon (golf), Allianz Championship (golf), Allianz Golf Open du Grand Toulouse (golf), Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad (tennis), Allianz Cup (tennis), Allianz Championship (golf), La Liga (football) and FINA Swimming World Cup (swimming) events.[54][55][56]

In Ireland, the national Gaelic Football league is officially named the Allianz National Football League.

Nazi-era activities and litigation

The former Allianz Head Office in Berlin.

In 1993 Henning Schulte-Noelle commissioned a new Archive for Corporate History, becoming the first Allianz CEO to address the company's activities during the Third Reich. In 1997 Schulte-Noelle asked Gerald Feldman, historian from the University of California-Berkeley, if he would undertake a larger research project on Allianz's past involvement with the Third Reich.[57] After research began, Jewish World War II survivors and their descendants took Allianz and other European insurance companies to court, accusing them of unpaid insurance policies.[58] Allianz and four other insurers supported the creation of the "International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims" (ICHEIC).[59]

Furthermore, Allianz became a founding member of the German Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future".[60] Feldman published the comprehensive results of his research in September 2001. Based on these results Allianz established an exhibition in the Archive for Corporate History and on the Internet.[61] The research concluded that Allianz, as an organization and through its corporate officers, voluntarily partnered with the Nazi Regime and the Third Reich, starting as early as the early 1930s and continuing all the way through to the collapse of the Third Reich.[62]

Feldman summarized his findings stating: "It was just one more piece of business in the Third Reich, but it demonstrated that such pieces on any large scale made contact at some point with all that is represented by the name "Auschwitz" – from slave labor to extermination – virtually inescapable." They were recorded in a book published by Cambridge University Press.[63]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Allianz note to shareholders confirming conversion to SE
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Frankfurt Stock Exchange
  5. ↑ AFX-News: Allianz jumps after Dresdner deal sealed
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Feldman, 46.
  11. ↑ Feldman, 21-24.
  12. ↑ Feldman, 28.
  13. ↑ Feldman, 35.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Gerald D. Feldman: "Allianz and the German Insurance Business, 1933-1945", Cambridge University Press, 2001

External links

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