Allianz Delivers Strong Growth in Asia

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 21 February 2018 - Allianz is pleased to announce it has achieved an excellent set of results in Asia for the full year ended 31 December 2017. Performance highlights include:

George Sartorel, Regional CEO for Asia, comments:

" We have finished 2017 on a high in Asia, delivering significant earnings growth across both  insurance businesses. This solid performance reflects the strengths of our diversified portfolio across geographies, channels and products, the focused execution of our teams and our commitment to drive a high-quality, value-creating business in the region."

The Life and Health business continued to accelerate growth in our preferred segments in 2017. The solid 33 percent rise in annualized new premiums was supported by steady inflows in both the agency and bancassurance channels. Besides widening our bank distribution footprint in the year, Allianz strengthened its proposition to both our agents and customers by extending the proprietary digital sales tool AZ Discover into Thailand and Malaysia. First developed and launched in Taiwan, AZ Discover facilitates a comprehensive customer experience within clicks, and sits at the heart of our Digital Agency strategy. Combined with the improvement in product mix, Allianz Asia has expanded new business value by 27 percent to 263 million euros, with strong margins particularly in Taiwan, China and the Philippines.

We made substantial progress in our Property and Casualty (P/C) business, with operating profit rising 37 percent, while the combined ratio improved by 3.1 percentage points to 93.7 percent. Management actions to drive sales and stronger expense discipline delivered clear results in 2017, especially in China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. On 2nd February 2018, Allianz announced plans to acquire 100 percent of Janashakthi General Insurance, a subsidiary of Janashakthi Insurance PLC. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, will significantly expand Allianz's customer reach and position it as one of Sri Lanka's largest P/C  insurers.

As well, a key part of our strategy is in enhancing the engagement with our customers. In 2017, the share of Allianz businesses whose Net Promoter Score1 outperformed their respective markets reached 73 percent. This is testament to the impressive efforts by our employees in driving customer centricity, as well as the investments we have made in services and solutions to meet our clients' evolving needs. We will continue to leverage data and technologies to make insurance simpler and more convenient for our customers.

As a region, Allianz is getting stronger. Given the strengths of our regional franchise, and our  continued focus on driving long-term value creation in Asia, we look ahead with confidence."

1 Net promoter score - a key metric used by Allianz to measure and manage customer focus

Note to Editors

About Allianz

The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 86 million retail and corporate customers. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world's largest investors, managing over 650 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers while our asset managers Allianz Global Investors and PIMCO manage an additional 1.4 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we hold the leading position for insurers in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2017, over 140,000 employees in more than 70 countries achieved total revenues of 126 billion euros and an operating profit of 11 billion euros for the group.

About Allianz in Asia

Asia is one of our three major growth regions. It is characterized by a rich diversity of cultures, languages and customs. Allianz has been present in the region since 1910, providing fire and marine insurance in the coastal cities of China. Today, Allianz is active in 14 markets in the region, offering its core businesses of property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance and asset management. With its more than 32,000 staff, Allianz serves the needs of over 18 million customers in the region across multiple distribution channels and platforms.

These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below. 

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: The statements contained herein may include prospects, statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. 

Such deviations may arise due to, without limitation, (i) changes of the general economic conditions and competitive situation, particularly in the Allianz Group's core business and core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets (particularly market volatility, liquidity and credit events), (iii) frequency and severity of insured loss events, including from natural catastrophes, and the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) particularly in the banking business, the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates including the euro/US-dollar exchange rate, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, including tax regulations, (x) the impact of acquisitions, including related integration issues, and reorganization measures, and (xi) general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and/or global basis. Many of these factors may be more likely to occur, or more pronounced, as a result of terrorist activities and their consequences. 

No duty to update: The company assumes no obligation to update any information or forward-looking statement contained herein, save for any information required to be disclosed by law.