Allianz SE is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management.
Allianz is the world's largest insurance company and the largest financial services company in Europe.[2] In 2023, the company was ranked 37th in the Forbes Global 2000.[3] Also it is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[4]
Its asset management division, which consists of PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors, has €2,432 billion of assets under management (AUM), of which €1,775 billion are third-party assets (Q1 2021).[5]
Allianz sold Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank in November 2008.[6] Allianz was a major supporter of the Nazi movement[7] and was an insurer of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
History
Foundation
Allianz AG was founded in Munich in 1889, but started its activities in Berlin on 5 February 1890, by the then-director of the Munich Reinsurance Company Carl von Thieme (a native of Erfurt, whose father was the director of the Thuringia insurance company) and Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co. Bank). The joint company was listed in Berlin's trade register[8] under the name Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft.[9] The company was established with a start-up capital of 4 million marks.[10] The first Allianz products were marine and accident policies that were initially sold only in Germany. However, in 1893, Allianz opened its first international branch office in London, distributing marine insurance coverage to German clientele looking for coverage abroad.[10]
Finances
As of 2022, Allianz was the world's largest insurance company with US$1.02 trillion in assets according to Forbes. For the fiscal year 2022, Allianz reported earnings of €7.2 billion, with an annual revenue of €152.7 billion, an increase of 2.8% over the previous fiscal cycle.[46]
Operations
Allianz has operations in over 70 countries and has around 150,000 employees. The parent company, Allianz SE, is headquartered in Munich. Allianz has more than 100 million customers worldwide and its services include property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance and asset management.[47] In 2013, it was number 25 on the global Forbes 2000 list.[48]
Australia
Allianz Australia Insurance Limited was founded 1914 as Manufacturers Mutual Insurance (MMI). Allianz acquired MMI in 1998.[49]
Allianz Australia operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and risk management products and services.[50]
Senior management
The Allianz board of directors is chaired by Oliver Bäte and includes Sergio Balbinot, Sirma Boshnakova, Dr. Barbara Karuth-Zelle, Klaus-Peter Röhler, Ivan de la Sota, Giulio Terzariol, Günther Thallinger, Christopher Townsend, Renate Wagner and Dr. Andreas G. Wimmer.<[118]
List of CEOs
Sponsorships
Allianz holds naming rights to the Allianz Arena, a football stadium in north Munich. The professional Munich football club Bayern Munich have played their home games at Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season.<[119] TSV 1860 München played their home games at Allianz Arena until the end of the 2016–17 season. Other stadiums associated with Allianz include the Allianz Parque football stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, Twickenham Stadium in London (the main rugby union stadium in England), the Allianz Riviera football stadium in Nice, France, the Allianz Stadium football stadium in Turin, Italy, the Allianz Stadion football stadium in Vienna, Austria and Allianz Field soccer stadium (for Minnesota United in Major League Soccer) in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States.<[120]
Nazi-era activities and litigation
In 1993, Henning Schulte-Noelle commissioned an archive for corporate history, becoming the first Allianz CEO to address the company's activities during Nazi Germany. In 1997, Schulte-Noelle asked Gerald Feldman, a University of California-Berkeley history professor, to undertake a larger research project on Allianz's past involvement with Nazi Germany.<[136] 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.<[137] Allianz and four other insurers supported the creation of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC).<[138]
Furthermore, Allianz became a founding member of the German foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.<[139] 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.<[140]
Controversies
Israeli ties during the Gaza war
Allianz subsidiary PIMCO has purchased almost $1 billion in Israeli government bonds since 2023. Human rights groups and legal experts have warned that underwriting or investing in these bonds may constitute complicity in potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide under international law.<[143]
In June 2025, UN experts warned that Allianz was complicit in genocide, according to international law.<[144]
See also
- Allianz Trade
- International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics
External links
References
- Allianz | Key indicators retrieved March 9, 2025^
- The Global 2000: 1–100 Forbes, May 2022, retrieved 7 September 2022^
- The Global 2000 2023 Forbes, retrieved 2024-02-07^