Allianz SE (ALIZF)

How it makes money

The insurance businesses collect premiums upfront and pay claims later, aiming for an underwriting profit and earning investment income on the funds held in between. The asset management business instead earns fees on the assets it manages for others, a stream of income that does not depend on Allianz's own underwriting results and grows or shrinks with market values and net client inflows.

Revenue by segment

A global brand, a large capital base and decades of claims data give Allianz pricing and distribution advantages that smaller insurers cannot match easily. But insurance is not a business with high switching costs for the customer, and Allianz competes against other large composite insurers with similar scale in most of its markets.

Most insurance policies are renewed out of necessity — cars must be insured, mortgages often require it — so premium volumes hold up reasonably well through economic cycles. The asset management business is more cyclical, since fee income moves with the market value of the assets it manages.

Key risks

• Underwriting risk — The group's capital requirements under its Solvency II model are driven in significant part by underwriting risk — the chance that claims, whether from catastrophes or from life and health policies, come in higher than priced for.
• Market risk on invested assets — Premiums held to cover future claims and long-term life savings guarantees are invested in bonds, equities and other assets, so interest-rate and capital-market swings affect both investment income and the value of liabilities.
• Credit and counterparty risk — The group is exposed to the risk that bond issuers, reinsurers or other counterparties in its investment and reinsurance arrangements fail to meet their obligations, tracked as a distinct capital-requirement category.