MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – As recently expected, Allianz continues to rely on continuity at the top of the group, but is losing its CFO Giulio Terzariol to the Italian competitor Generali (Assicurazioni Generali). The 51-year-old Italian will be released from his position on December 31st in order to be able to pursue a career opportunity outside Allianz, Allianz announced on Monday in Munich. The news did not cause any strong fluctuations on the stock market. Allianz shares rose slightly in line with the market. Generali also announced that Terzariol will lead a newly founded unit from January in which all insurance business will be bundled.
The Italian newspaper “La Stampa” had previously reported on the change. Terzariol is therefore also a candidate to succeed the company boss. At Allianz, Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre takes on the position of CFO, which is very important for an insurer. The 48-year-old is currently Chief Actuary and Head of Planning & Controlling at Allianz SE. Previously, she was CFO and Deputy CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE.
The Munich-based group also ensured clarity at the top management. Oliver Bäte’s mandate as Chairman of the Board of Directors has been extended until the 2028 Annual General Meeting. The 58-year-old has been with Allianz since 2008 and has been CEO since May 2015. The extension of his contract has been reported several times in the past few weeks. However, “Manager Magazin” recently reported that the contract with Bäte would probably only be extended for three years and not five years due to criticism of his management style, goals not being achieved and the age limit being exceeded – but now it has been five years.
If Bäte completes his term of office, he would be at the top of the group for a total of 13 years. Unlike his predecessors, Bäte will probably not then move to the supervisory board – as he wanted, according to the “Manager Magazine” report. His predecessor and current chairman of the supervisory board, Michael Diekmann, wants to recruit an external candidate to succeed him in his position. “Institutional investors and voting rights advisors are now increasingly expecting that no former member of the Allianz SE Executive Board will take over as chairman of the Supervisory Board,” he said at the annual general meeting in the spring.
Diekmann himself was in office from 2003 to 2015 – twelve years. Before him, Henning Schulte-Noelle was also CEO of Allianz for twelve years. The Munich-based insurer has a tradition of continuity at the top management. Bäte is only the tenth CEO since the company was founded in 1890. Recently, however, investors have repeatedly criticized the fact that Allianz’s operating profit and surplus have not grown as strongly as those of some competitors in recent years. The Munich insurer, with its almost 160,000 employees, was also average at best in terms of growth.
However, Bäte’s balance sheet on the stock market has been positive so far. The share price has risen by almost half during his term in office. This means that Allianz performed slightly better than the DAX (DAX 40). Compared to other large European primary insurers such as AXA, Generali and NN (NN Group), Allianz has been doing well on the capital market since Bäte took office in May 2015. Only Zurich (Zurich Insurance) was able to achieve similar growth. Allianz also received high annual dividends. In addition, with a market value of around 90 billion euros, the group is by far the most valuable insurer in Europe./zb/lew/jha/
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