Europe’s largest insurer extended the contracts of two board members on Friday.
(Photo: dpa)
Munich Allianz extended the contracts of two board members on Friday. After a supervisory board meeting, the insurer reported that Barbara Karuth-Zelle and Christopher Townsend will now be members of the top management body of the Dax group until December 2028.
Both have been on the board of Europe’s largest insurer since early 2021. In a statement, the head of the supervisory board, Michael Diekmann, saw the contract extensions as a sign of the importance of continuity in management in times of change.
Both Karuth-Zelle and Townsend will be particularly challenged in their areas of responsibility in the coming years when it comes to driving forward the further development of the alliance.
As Chief Operating Officer (COO), the 54-year-old Karuth cell has to stabilize and harmonize the company’s vulnerable IT. To this end, the transformation programs “Allianz Customer Model” and “Business Master Platform” are running in the Group.
In the coming years, the topic of data analysis and the question of what contribution artificial intelligence can make will be of crucial importance.
Briton Chris Townsend has the most heterogeneous area of responsibility of all nine members on the Allianz board. Among other things, the 55-year-old is responsible for in-house industrial, credit and reinsurance, as well as for the markets in Africa and the Middle East, in Latin America, on the Iberian Peninsula and in Great Britain. Despite the broad spectrum, Townsend is present everywhere, at least through constant inquiries, according to the group.
Bäte’s contract extension still open
The supervisors around chairman Michael Diekmann have not yet made a decision on Friday about a possible contract extension for CEO Oliver Bäte. Observers in the company expect this at the time of the supervisory board meeting at the end of September.
record result
14.2
billion euro
Allianz made a profit in 2022.
Bäte’s current contract ends at the end of September 2024. The CEO, who has managed the Allianz Group since 2015, has been under massive pressure in recent years because incorrect speculation by the asset management subsidiary AGI in the USA has cost the group almost six billion dollars. Hedge funds called Structured Alpha had suffered significant losses at the beginning of the corona pandemic and some had to be closed.
Fund managers advocate another term
However, because the debacle was quickly ended and the group also made a record operating profit of 14.2 billion euros last year, fund managers are now advocating another term for Bäte at the top of Allianz. However, it is questionable whether Bäte’s contract will be extended by three or five years.
The statutes of Allianz have so far provided for retirement at the age of 62. That would speak for a three-year contract. At the end of his current contract next year, Bäte will be 59 years old. However, recently fund managers like Andreas Thomae from Deka had doubted the point of an age limit. “The age limit of 62 years is no reason why the contract with Oliver Bäte could not be extended by five years,” he told the Handelsblatt.
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