alv otcqx azsey industry insurance founded 1890 ; 126 years ago 1890 headquarters munich germany area served worldwide key people oliver b te ceo helmut perlet chairman of the supervisory board maximilian zimmerer cfo products insurance asset management revenue 122.3 billion 2014 1 operating income 10.402 billion 2014 1 profit 6.603 billion 2014 1 total assets 926.16 billion 2016 2 total equity 63.702 billion end 2014 1 number of employees 147 425 end 2014 1 subsidiaries allianz france allianz worldwide care allianz global investors risklab allianz global assistance allianz insurance plc allianz global corporate and specialty allianz life club marine hunter premium funding allianz marine & transit euler hermes mondial assistance group pimco website www.allianz.com allianz se 3 li nts al i nts ; german pronunciation ali ants listen is a european financial services company headquartered in munich germany . its core businesses are insurance and asset management . as of 2014 it is the world s largest insurance company the largest financial services group and the largest company according to a composite measure by forbes magazine 4 as well as the largest financial services company when measured by 2013 revenue . the company is a component of the euro stoxx 50 stock market index . 5 its allianz global investors division ranks as a top five global active investment manager having 1 933 billion of assets under management aum of which 1 408 billion are third party assets as of 2015 03 31 with specialized asset managers including pimco bonds rcm equities and degi real estate . allianz sold dresdner bank to commerzbank in november 2008 . 6 as a result of this merger allianz gained a 14 % controlling stake in the new commerzbank . contents 1 history 1.1 foundation 1.2 20th century developments 1.3 21st century developments 2 operations 2.1 australia 2.2 belgium 2.3 bulgaria 2.4 canada 2.5 germany 2.6 india 2.7 indonesia 2.8 italy 2.9 pakistan 2.10 slovakia 2.11 united kingdom 2.12 united states 3 senior management 3.1 ceos to date 4 sponsorships 5 nazi era activities and litigation 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit foundation edit an early allianz agent s plaque . allianz ag was founded in berlin on 5 february 1890 by then director of the munich reinsurance company carl von thieme a native of erfurt whose father was the director of thuringia and wilhelm von finck co owner of the merck finck & co bank . the joint company was listed in berlin s trade register 7 under the name allianz versicherungs aktiengesellschaft . 8 the first allianz products were marine and accident policies first sold only in germany however in 1893 allianz opened its first international branch office in london . it distributed marine insurance coverage to german clientele looking for coverage abroad . 9 in 1900 the company became the first insurer to obtain a license to distribute corporate policies . in 1904 paul von naher took over the sole leadership of the company as it moved into the us and other markets . markets entered by 1914 included the netherlands italy belgium france the scandinavian countries and the baltic states and allianz had become the largest maritime insurer in germany . 9 the company suffered an early disaster in expansion when the 1906 san francisco earthquake caused the company to sustain 300 000 marks in losses . in 1905 the company acquired fides insurance company a firm that had innovated the first form of home invasion insurance . 10 other places it would expand into during the 1910s and 1920s included palestine cyprus iraq china the dutch indies ceylon and siam . 11 20th century developments edit in 1905 the company began to offer fire insurance and in 1911 it began to sell machinery breakdown policies . allianz remained the only company in the world that sold machine breakdown insurance until 1924 . then in 1918 it began to offer automobile insurance as well . in 1921 von naher died and was succeeded by kurt schmitt . the company would begin to offer life insurance as of 1922 becoming europe s largest offerer of the policies by the end of the 1920s . in 1927 allianz merged with stuttgarter verein versicherung ag and 9 two years later acquired the insurance businesses of favag a large german insurer that declared bankruptcy due to the onset of the great depression . 12 expansion of the company then slowed until 1938 13 at which point it employed more than 24 000 people . 14 christian stadler wrote of the history of allianz that it shows how important it is to diversify into related areas to hedge against the risk of fundamental changes in markets and economies . 15 during world war ii the berlin headquarters of allianz were destroyed by allied bombing runs . 16 following the end of the war in 1945 hans heb became head of the company and allianz shifted its headquarters to munich in 1949 due to the split between east and west germany . heb only held the position until 1948 when he was replaced by hans goudefroy . after world war ii global business activities were gradually resumed . allianz opened an office in paris in 1959 and started repurchasing stakes in former subsidiaries in italy and austria . in 1971 wolfgang schieren became the head of the company . these expansions were followed in the 1970s by the establishment of business in the united kingdom the netherlands spain brazil and the united states . in 1986 allianz acquired cornhill insurance plc london and the purchase of a stake in riunione adriatica di sicurit ras milan strengthened its presence in western and southern europe in the 1980s . in 1990 allianz started an expansion into eight eastern european countries with establishing a presence in hungary . in the same decade allianz also acquired fireman s fund an insurer in the united states which was followed by the purchase of assurances g n rales de france agf paris . these acquisitions were followed by the expansion into asia with several joint ventures and acquisitions in china and south korea and the acquisition of australia s manufacturers mutual insurance . around this time allianz expanded its asset management business as well by purchasing for example asset management companies in california . 9 21st century developments edit the original allianz logo designed in 1923 by karl schulpig . allianz s current head office is located in munich . in april 2001 allianz agreed to acquire the 80 per cent of dresdner bank that it did not already own for us 20 billion . as part of the transaction allianz agreed to sell its 13.5 per cent stake in hypovereinsbank to munich re and to acquire munich re s 40 per cent stake in allianz leben . 17 following completion of the acquisition allianz and dresdner bank combined their asset management activities by forming allianz global investors . in 2002 michael diekmann succeeded henning schulte noelle as ceo of allianz ag . in june 2006 allianz announced the layoff of 7 280 employees about 4 percent of its worldwide work force at the time as part of a restructuring program aimed at raising profitability . the reductions comprised 5 000 staff at allianz insurance operations and 2 480 at dresdner bank . in the same month allianz announced that its dresdner kleinwort wasserstein investment banking operation would be renamed as simply dresdner kleinwort . 18 in september 2005 allianz announced that it would convert its holding company into a societas europaea se ; latin european company becoming one of the first major companies to do so . the conversion was made in conjunction with allianz s acquisition of 100 per cent control of its principal italian subsidiary riunione adriatica di sicurt ras for around us 7 billion . the conversion to an se was completed on 13 october 2006 . 19 the allianz group also simplified its brand strategy from 2006 and their previous emblem was replaced by the current combination mark . 20 by 2008 the company was europe s largest insurer . 21 in 2007 it was a founder member of the hedge fund standards board which sets a voluntary code of standards of best practice endorsed by its members . 22 on 31 august 2008 it was announced that allianz had agreed to sell 60.2 per cent of dresdner bank to commerzbank for 9.8 billion us 14.4 billion with an agreement that commerzbank would acquire the remainder of dresdner bank by the end of 2009 . 23 after renegotiations it was announced in november 2008 that commerzbank would acquire the 100 % ownership of dresdner bank earlier 12 january 2009 . the sale price was lowered to 5.5 billion euro . shortly after the transaction completed commerzbank was partially nationalized by the german government to save it from bankruptcy . allianz currently retains a stake of around 14 % in commerzbank . 24 in august 2015 a consortium led by allianz acquired german motorway service station group tank & rast for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of 3.5 billion . 25 operations edit allianz has operations in over 70 countries and has around 147 000 employees . the parent company allianz se is headquartered in munich germany . allianz has more than 85 million customers worldwide and its services include property and casualty insurance life and health insurance and asset management . 16 in 2013 it was number 25 on the global forbes 2000 list . 26 countries in which allianz currently has operations . australia edit tracing its roots back to 1914 allianz australia insurance limited operates throughout australia and new zealand and through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and risk management products and services . 27 subsidiaries of allianz australia include club marine allianz life and hunter premium funding . 28 in 2012 allianz australia announced a multi year agreement with the scg trust to rename the sydney football stadium to allianz stadium . 29 allianz ag is the underwriter for australia s largest pet insurance company petplan australia . belgium edit allianz operates through allianz belgium previously agf belgium which has been re branded to allianz belgium in november 2007 . 30 bulgaria edit allianz bank bulgaria headquarters in sofia allianz bank bulgaria is a universal commercial bank having its headquarters in sofia . it was established in 1997 . on october 13 2003 the bank received the name of its principal shareholder allianz bulgaria holding . before that the bank was named bulgaria invest commercial bank . allianz bank bulgaria offers its products in more than hundred branches and offices all over the country as well as through the broad agents network of allianz bulgaria holding . the bank possesses a full banking license for carrying out banking and financial transactions . 31 canada edit allianz entered the canadian market in the early 1990s through an acquisition of several north american insurers namely the american firemans fund 32 and the canadian surety . 33 upon the market exit the personal and commercial lines unit was sold off to the market leader ing canada now intact and allianz canada continues operations in kitchener ontario . allianz canada has merged with tic insurance in 2014 and has become one of the largest insurance companies in canada as a result . 34 35 germany edit the allianz complex in alt treptow berlin allianz offers a wide range of general life and health insurance products in germany through its allianz deutschland ag subsidiary . it is the market leader in both the general and life insurance markets . allianz products are distributed principally through a network of full time tied agents . since september 2010 allianz products have also been sold through commerzbank branches . 1 the headquarters of allianz slovensk pois ov a in bratislava india edit in india allianz primarily operates through bajaj allianz life