Allianz (help·info) SE^[2] (formerly Allianz AG) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.^[3]

Its Allianz Global Investors division ranks as a top-five global active investment manager, having €1,443 billion of assets under management (AuM), of which €1,131 billion are third-party assets (as of 2010-09-30), with specialized asset managers such as PIMCO (Bond fund), RCM (Equity fund), Degi (Real estate fund), etc.

Allianz sold Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank in November 2008.^[4] As a result of this merger, Allianz gained a 14% controlling stake in the new Commerzbank Group.

History[link]

Allianz AG was founded in Berlin on 5 February 1890 by 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).

20th century[link]

The original Allianz logo, designed in 1923 by Karl Schulpig.

Allianz shifted its headquarters to Munich in 1949. The first step to become an international company started with the opening of a branch office in London in the late 19th century. After World War II, global business activities were gradually resumed. Allianz opened an office in Paris in the late 1950s, and a management office for Italy in the 1960s. 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. Recently, on February 8, 2006, RAS Shareholders approved the mergers with Allianz.

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 Generales 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.

21st century[link]

The Allianz building in Alt-Treptow, Berlin, Germany

In April 2001, Allianz agreed to acquire the 80 per cent of Dresdner Bank that it did not already own for US$20 billion.^[5] 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.^[5] 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.^[6] The reductions comprised 5,000 staff at Allianz insurance operations and 2,480 at Dresdner Bank.^[6] In the same month, Allianz announced that its Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment banking operation would be renamed as simply Dresdner Kleinwort.^[6]

In September 2005, Allianz announced that it would convert its holding company into a European Company (Societas Europaea), becoming one of the the first major companies to do so.^[7] 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.^[7] The conversion to an SE was completed on 13 October 2006.^[7] The Allianz Group also simplified its brand strategy from 2006 and their previous emblem was replaced by the current word-picture brand.^[8]

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.^[9] 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 that transaction completed, Commerzbank had to be partially nationalized by the German government to prevent it from bankruptcy. Allianz is currently keeping around 14% of Commerzbank shares. The venture into the German banking space is said^{[by whom?]} to have cost the insurance company about 30–35 billion Euro.

Operations[link]

Allianz is now present in more than 70 countries with over 180,000 employees. At the top of the international group is the holding company, Allianz SE, with its head office in Munich. Allianz Group provides its more than 60 million customers worldwide with a comprehensive range of services in the areas of
• property and casualty insurance,
• life and health insurance,
• asset management and banking.

Countries in which Allianz currently has operations.

Australia[link]

Allianz Australia Limited (ABN 21 000 006 226) operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and risk management products and services. Subsidiaries of Allianz Australia include Club Marine, Allianz Life and Hunter Premium Funding.

Belgium[link]

Allianz operates through Allianz Belgium, previously AGF Belgium which has been re-branded to Allianz Belgium on 29 November 2007.

Bulgaria[link]

Allianz Bank Bulgaria^[10] 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.

Shareholders The principal shareholders of Allianz Bank Bulgaria are:

-Allianz Bulgaria Holding

-Allianz Bulgaria Ins. Company

-Energy Insurance Company

Canada[link]

Allianz put a sudden halt to its Canadian P&C operation Allianz Canada (market share 2%) in 2004 after several years of unfavorable business results. Allianz originally entered the Canadian market in the early 1990s through an acquisition of several North American insurers, namely the American Firemans Fund and the Canadian Surety. Upon the market exit the personal and commercial lines unit was sold off to the market leader ING Canada (Now Intact), whereas its industrial underwriting branch was bought by Allianz US, which has retained the Toronto office.

Germany[link]

Allianz offers a wide range of general, life and health insurance products in Germany through its Allianz Deutschland AG subsidiary.^[1] It is the market leader in both the general and life insurance markets.^[1]

Allianz products are distributed princiaplly through a network of full-time tied agents.^[1] Since September 2010 Allianz products have also been sold through Commerzbank branches.^[1]

India[link]

In India Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv Limited (recently demerged from Bajaj Auto Limited) and Allianz SE.

Bajaj allianz is one of the fastest growing private life insurance company in India.This has more than 1200 branches across country and deals in primarily unitlinked,traditional,health,child and pension policies.

Also, Allianz Cornhill Information Services (ACIS) is a captive offshore facility of Allianz Insurance plc, operating from the Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), offering both IT and ITES services. ACIS is a CMMI Level 5 company providing world-class Application Development and Maintenance services to Allianz Insurance in the UK and some other Allianz companies. ACIS is also a pioneer of the ITeS industry in Kerala and is ISO 9001-2000 certified for its Business Process Operations.

Slovakia[link]

Allianz - Slovenská poisťovňa headquarters, Bratislava

Allianz started its life and Property & Casualty (P&C) operation in Slovakia in 1993 but the local subsidiary was never able to achieve a relevant market share. In 2001 Allianz AG bought the majority ownership in then state-owned Slovenská poisťovňa (SP, Slovak Insurance Company), at the time suffering from political mismanagement, asset-stripping and deep under-reserving. SP however held a market share of well over 50%, which had made it an attractive privatization target, where Allianz had to compete with such insurers as AXA or Aegon. Upon the purchase the local Allianz operation was merged with SP creating a new company Allianz - Slovenská poisťovňa. Its combined market share (life and P&C) presently stands at just below 40% (about 50% in P&C business), still making it by far the market leader.

United Kingdom[link]

Allianz owns British insurance company Cornhill Insurance plc, subsequently renamed Allianz Cornhill Insurance plc. This then simply became Allianz Insurance plc on 30 April 2007 to directly reflect its continental parentage. It also owns the High Net Worth insurance broker Home and Legacy. Their IT captive unit in India Allianz Cornhill Information Services plc is located at Technopark, Trivandrum in Kerala.

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.

United States[link]

Allianz has a growing prevalence within the United States, notably Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and Fireman's Fund. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America employs close to 2000 employees. Allianz also owns Pacific Investment Management Company, commonly called PIMCO.

Recent management[link]

CEOs to date:

• 2003 — Present : Michael Diekmann
• 1991 — 2003: Henning Schulte-Noelle

Sponsorships[link]

The Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

Allianz provided naming rights for the Allianz Arena, a football stadium in the north of Munich, Germany, which is sponsored by Allianz. 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. Both clubs had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium; Bayern Munich since 1972 and 1860 München since the 1990s.

Allianz owned the Polish football team Gornik Zabrze till April 2011 when has sold shares in controversial way.

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, NJ, but those talks ended due to opposition from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors.^[11]

Allianz has been involved in Formula One since 2000, firstly as a sponsor of the AT&T WilliamsF1 Team, and since 2011 as a sponsor of the Mercedes GP Petronas team.

In early 2009, Allianz signed an agreement to become the Global Partner of the St. Andrews Links Trust.

In early 2012, Allianz entered an agreement with the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust which oversaw the Sydney Football Stadium being renamed Allianz Stadium. As part of the deal, some of the seats were replaced to read Alliance as well as the future installation of external dramatic lighting.

Controversies[link]

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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. The Archive opened in 1996. In 1997 Schulte-Noelle asked Gerald D. 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. Feldman started the research in 1998 with a team of young historians. A few months later, Jewish World War II survivors and their descendants took Allianz and other European insurance companies to court, accusing them of unpaid insurance policies. Allianz and four other insurers supported the creation of the "International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims" (ICHEIC). Furthermore, Allianz became a founding member of the German Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future". Both organizations took care of payments for the victims. 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.

The research concluded that Allianz, as an organization and through its corporate officers, was forced to comply 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.

Among the more notable examples:

Allianz managers held senior positions in the administration of national socialist Germany. Kurt Schmitt, director general of Allianz until 1933, was Hitler’s Reich Economics Minister from June 1933 until January 1935. He became a member of both the Nazi Party and the SS in 1933, rising to the rank of Brigadeführer, which is a one-star general in the SS. Eduard Hilgard, member of the board of Allianz, became head of the "Reich Group for Insurance" in 1934. He represented the insurance industry in a conference summoned by Hermann Göring after the November Pogrom of 1938. Hilgard reported on the material damages caused during the Kristallnacht Pogrom and the estimated amounts of money insurance companies had to cover.

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.“^[12]

See also[link]

	Bavaria portal
	Companies portal

• European Financial Services Roundtable
• The Geneva Association

References[link]

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (December 2006)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Allianz

• Official website

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Coordinates: 48°09′16″N 11°35′20″E / 48.15444°N 11.58889°E / 48.15444; 11.58889