Allianz reorganizes the board of directors

Evan de la Sota was previously responsible for the so-called Allianz Customer Model (ACM). This should simplify products across borders and ideally be presented in a standardized manner. For years, the project has been a central theme of CEO Oliver Butt, who has repeatedly criticized the autonomy of individual national companies in product design. De la Sota has made progress on this huge task, but there has always been internal criticism.

In last year’s compensation report, in which the supervisory board compares the performance of individual board members, Evan de la Sota came last. There have been speculations about his departure for a long time.

Allianz officially justified his departure by saying that ACM’s operations are now so advanced that employees can return to their original lines of property, life and health insurance.

For the remaining nine executives, who will be part of the Allianz Board of Directors from next year, there will be a number of additional assignments in addition to their previous activities. De la Sota and Balbinot’s responsibilities pass to her.

Christopher Townsend conducts business in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. The Briton has so far been responsible for the industrial customer division of AGCS, reinsurance company Allianz RE and business in Great Britain, Ireland and Africa.

Additional duties for board members

Renate Wagner will be responsible for Asia and Australia in the future. As the CFO of the Asian business, she knows the area from her previous area of ​​responsibility. So far she has been responsible for HR and business with acquisitions. Last year she managed the reorganization of Allianz Germany, which is now largely complete.

Wagner is a potential candidate for Allianz’ president if CEO Oliver Bäte does not extend his contract, which runs through 2024. Internally, Wagner is resolute. With its new area of ​​responsibility in Asia, it will also be responsible for a region where Allianz anticipates significant growth in the coming years.

However, it comes as no surprise that Andreas Wimmer is now also responsible for life insurance. He was responsible for the asset management department of the board of directors for a year. Before that he was head of the German life insurance company in Stuttgart, which had been making high profits for the head office for years. The idea that asset management and life insurance should be more closely related has been debated for a long time. With the reorganization of the Executive Board, it is now being implemented.

Finance department has been upgraded

CFO Giulio Terzariol will occupy a key position in the future. The so-called Risk, Legal and Compliance Protection Areas will then be created alongside his team. “We want to focus relevant skills and therefore enhance the impact of these jobs even more,” Oliver Butt said in an interview with Handelsblatt on Friday.

This step has become necessary because financial regulator Bafin has called for improvements in oversight, particularly in the areas of risk management and compliance, as part of a review of the failed Alpha Structured Strategy in the USA.

In addition, Allianz and the large Italian bank Unicredit announced on Friday morning that they want to dismantle their financial holdings, which have been in Croatia for many years. In this context, Dax Group sells its 11.7 percent stake in Zagrebacka Banka (Zaba) to majority owner Unicredit. Zaba listed is one of the largest financial houses in Croatia and is currently valued at around €2.7 billion.

In return, Zaba cedes its 16.8 percent stake in Allianz Hrvatska to the insurance company. Operationally, both financial companies, which work closely together in Germany, want to continue cooperation in Croatia. Thus UniCredit has a stake of more than 95 percent in the Croatian bank.

Allianz is likely to generate triple-digit revenue from the transaction. The value of your block of shares in Zagrebacka Banka is approximately 0.3 billion euros on the stock exchange. Their involvement in the Allianz subsidiary is likely to be much lower.

more: Allianz CEO Oliver Butt: ‘Not every company will survive’