Dispute over billions in losses: US Department of Justice investigates Allianz funds

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Allianz offices in Berlin

Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty Images

The alliance is grappling with an investigation by the US Department of Justice in the US. The plaintiffs accuse the Munich-based asset manager Allianz Global Investors (AGI) of corona-related losses of billions. According to the SEC, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has now launched an investigation, Allianz announced on Monday night. As a result, the Allianz share fell by almost seven percent to 194 euros, the lowest it has been since the end of January.

The Allianz Board of Management spoke of a “relevant risk” that the matter could have “significant effects on the future financial results of the Allianz Group”.

According to US media reports, the plaintiffs include the New York Metro, the teacher pension fund in the state of Arkansas and the Teamsters union.

Hedge funds made huge losses

The allegations amount to the fact that the AGI fund managers did not adhere to their own guidelines and did not react appropriately to the market development in the early phase of the corona pandemic, which in turn is said to have caused the high losses of the investors.

According to its own admission, the alliance cooperates fully with the securities regulator and the US Department of Justice.

AGI is based in Frankfurt and is the smaller of the two Allianz asset management companies, while the US subsidiary Pimco is much larger.

The lawsuits concern so-called hedge funds, which AGI launched under the name Alpha Fonds and which suffered significant losses in the past year.

Allianz has not yet made any provision for any litigation costs.

It is currently neither possible to predict the outcome of the investigations and the legal proceedings, nor to estimate their timing, it said.

hej / dpa