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Trouble in America: Allianz boss Oliver Bäte.
Photo: CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP
Allianz is confronted in the US with lawsuits worth billions from pension funds that suffered drastic losses with several funds in the corona crisis.
The claims for damages filed in New York already add up to four billion dollars, as Reuters has calculated.
After heavy losses as a result of the virus panic on the markets, the investment subsidiary of the Munich insurance giant, Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), liquidated two of its "Structured Alpha" funds in March.
The vehicles pursued highly aggressive investment strategies otherwise known from hedge funds.
The plaintiffs accuse AllianzGI of deliberately deviating from the strategy of using options to hedge the funds against a short-term crash in the financial markets.
In addition to the pension fund for teachers in the US state of Arkansas (ATRS), the plaintiffs also include the fund for the employees of the operator of the New York transport company, the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA).
He had invested $ 200 million in the closed Allianz funds to meet the company pension claims of the 70,000 employees.
The complaint states that AllianzGI had promised a "weatherproof" investment strategy, but then, out of self-interest, banked on a recovery in the market and thus "put the hard-earned pensions of the MTA employees at risk, who at the same time risked their lives Keeping New York Alive in the Corona Pandemic ".
An Allianz spokesman rejected the allegations: even if the losses were regrettable, the plaintiffs' allegations were "legally and factually incorrect".
The insurer will defend itself against this.
After all, the pension funds are professional investors who have bought funds with a higher risk-return profile.
They should bring up to ten percent higher returns than the S&P 500 index.
With one of the funds, the buyers suffered a loss of 97 percent, according to the lawsuits.
Allianz admitted in its semi-annual report that the hedge fund losses had also brought the US securities regulator to action.
You cooperate with the authority.
The SEC was initially unavailable for comment.
Allianz Global Investors launched its own investigation and concluded in July that the losses were "not the result of a flawed portfolio investment strategy or errors in risk management".
lhy / Reuters
