Despite the negative impact of the flood disaster, Allianz made a lot of money in the third quarter.
But the US business carries a great risk.
Munich - Allianz put up with the devastating flood disaster in the summer. Because the life insurance and fund business also achieved record results, the Dax Group earned more in the third quarter than in the pandemic summer of 2020. CEO Oliver Bäte is therefore more optimistic about the profit development in the current year and now expects an operating result of around 13 billion euros, as the insurer announced on Wednesday in Munich. But a legal dispute in the USA hovers over the alliance as the sword of Damocles: Large investors are demanding billions from the group.
CEO Bäte spoke of the strongest third quarter ever for Allianz.
After the flood disaster in Germany and several neighboring countries in July, the insurer had to settle damage to its customers of more than one billion euros, as CFO Giulio Terzariol said in a conference call.
However, Allianz had largely passed the risks on to reinsurers.
Allianz: flood disaster costs 400 million euros
The bottom line was that the catastrophe hit the Munich-based company with around 400 million euros.
This includes back payments to replenish the reinsurance coverage, said Terzariol.
In doing so, Allianz is doing with reinsurers in a similar way to policyholders with their insurers: The group has passed on risks and premiums to reinsurers for many years without claiming claims payments, said Terzariol.
This summer, Allianz benefited even more from the contracts.
In the third quarter, the DAX group increased its operating profit by eleven percent to a good 3.2 billion euros compared to the pandemic period of the previous year.
The bottom line was that the insurer earned 2.1 billion euros, two percent more than a year earlier.
In the property and casualty business, operating profit fell by two percent to just under 1.3 billion euros, also due to the high catastrophe losses.
In life and health insurance, however, it grew even more, with an increase of almost twelve percent to 1.25 billion euros.
In addition, the division significantly expanded its new business.
Allianz: Fund division delivers record numbers
The Allianz fund division also achieved a record quarter.
The operating profit jumped by 30 percent to 882 million euros.
The group companies Pimco and Allianz Global Investors collected 25.7 billion euros in net new money from investors.
Assets managed for third parties grew by 51 billion and reached an all-time high of almost 1.9 trillion euros.
However, the group is facing claims for damages and possible billions in penalties because of the fund business.
Because several investors have sued Allianz in the USA for losses for which they hold the subsidiary AGI responsible.
It is a high priority for Allianz to find a solution in this matter, said CFO Terzariol.
Allianz: Risk from US lawsuits
However, the manager did not dare to estimate how expensive the matter would be for the group in the end.
According to Terzariol, Allianz may set up a corresponding provision at the end of the year.
The investors' allegations amount to the fact that fund managers did not adhere to their own guidelines and did not react appropriately to market developments in the early phase of the corona pandemic.
As a result, investors would have suffered heavy losses.
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.
(dpa)
