The insurer faces penalties from the US Department of Justice.
(Photo: imago images/sepp spiegl)
Munich Allianz boss Oliver Bäte gives shareholders hope for a quick settlement of the dispute with US investors and authorities about their billions in losses with hedge funds. Bäte said on Wednesday at the insurer’s virtual general meeting in Munich that he was counting on a “speedy and final agreement” on the lawsuits and investigations into the “Structured Alpha” funds.
The alliance wants to conclude the topic shortly. However, further depreciation is to be expected. The group will present figures for the first quarter next week.
After the agreement with the most important US investors, Allianz had already set aside 3.7 billion euros for “Structured Alpha”, which decimated net profit in 2021 by 2.8 billion euros. In addition, the insurer faces penalties from the US Department of Justice.
A good two dozen pension funds and other large investors had sued Allianz for a good six billion dollars. She had sold them the hedge funds with a volume of 15 billion dollars as a supposedly safe investment.
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At the beginning of the corona crisis, however, investors lost a large part of their stake when the stock markets collapsed. They accused Allianz of deviating from its investment strategy in view of the temporary panic on the markets.
Allianz wants to become a major insurer in Africa
The group also wants to become one of Africa’s leading insurers with a new joint venture. The joint venture with the South African insurer Sanlam is said to be active in 29 countries and the largest pan-African insurer.
The exception is Sanlam’s home market of South Africa, one of the largest economies on the continent. “Africa has enormous growth potential, market penetration of insurance is comparatively low,” said Bäte. So far, Africa has not played a major role for Allianz – according to the 2021 annual report, the company was only represented there in nine countries.
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