Insurance: Higher prices drive up Allianz profits

Higher prices in the property and casualty business brought the insurer Allianz a surprisingly strong jump in profits at the start of the year.

In the first quarter, the Munich-based Dax group achieved an operating profit of a good 3.7 billion euros, almost a quarter more than a year earlier. According to the Executive Board, the group is on course to achieve an operating profit of between 13.2 billion and 15.2 billion euros this year as planned.

The bottom line is that the shareholders accounted for a profit of 2 billion euros, a good four times as much as in the same period last year. At that time, an investment scandal by the fund subsidiary Allianz Global Investors in the USA burdened the group with fines and damages of 1.9 billion euros.

While Allianz did better this time in day-to-day business than experts had expected, they had calculated the surplus to be around 300 million more on average. However, Allianz wrote off around 200 million euros on its business in Lebanon, which it wants to sell. The sale should only succeed for the group at a loss, as can be seen from a presentation by the board of directors.

Business volume increased by around four percent

Group-wide, Allianz increased its business volume by around four percent to 46 billion euros. This was solely due to the property and casualty business: The volume there grew by a good eleven percent to around 24 billion euros – also because the insurer demanded higher premiums from its customers. Allianz explained that higher prices alone would have boosted the division’s business volume by 5.6 percent.

Because the insurer also had to shoulder lower claims from natural catastrophes, the division’s operating profit jumped by almost 23 percent to 1.9 billion euros. Damage caused by natural disasters cost Allianz a total of 117 million euros, significantly less than a year earlier. The burden is entirely due to the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the presentation said.

communication