Allianz Deutschland 2016 Results: All lines show revenue gains

- Property & casualty insurance grows faster than market

- One out of every three euros invested in retirement plans is invested with Allianz Leben

- Strong new business in health insurance

Allianz Deutschland achieved its goals for fiscal 2016. Revenues made gains in all lines, by a total of 4.6 percent, to EUR 32.4 billion (vs. EUR 30.9 billion). At year's end, Allianz Deutschland insured 20.4 million clients, 66,000 more than a year earlier. Disbursements to clients increased from EUR 18.8 billion to EUR 20.6 billion. Germany's largest insurer also advanced its reconception as a customer-centered organization, as well as the all-inclusive digitalization of its processes. All in all, last fiscal year the company invested EUR 155 million in customer-oriented initiatives and digitalization projects.

At the same time, it also expanded its digital agency and the interactive Allianz consulting process. The effort is paying off. Allianz Beratungs- und Vertriebs-AG increased its overall sales performance by 7.8 percent in 2016, and achieved its highest sales performance per salesperson for the exclusive sales organization. Manfred Knof, CEO of Allianz Deutschland, emphasized: '2016 was a very successful year. Our stronger focus on our customers and their needs is reaping economic rewards.'

One part of the growth initiative last year was that Allianz Deutschland picked up two important strategic partners in bank sales. The cooperative sales arrangement with Santander went into operation on January 1, 2017, and Allianz Deutschland will become a cooperating partner of HypoVereinsbank as of January 1, 2018. To keep its products and services as transparent as possible for customers, Allianz increased the number of available online computers and service applications to more than 30. Many products, including car insurance, full-coverage health insurance and term life insurance, can be taken out entirely digitally atwww.allianz.de, and most can also be taken out on a mobile device. At the same time, customers can get advice from an agent any point in the application process, or make contact with customer service. 'We've been seeing that in a digital environment especially, a personal conversation is very important to a lot of customers,' says Knof. That's why the insurer is continuing to work on improving its customer service. Last year, Allianz increased its phone availability from 85 to nearly 95 percent. Waiting times for callers were cut by about 40 percent.

One of the first tasks of the new Chief Customer Officer position that Allianz Deutschland established in July 2016 was to incorporate customer feedback systematically into product development. 'We never put a new product on the market unless customers have extensively tested it first,' Knof says. Many of the new products and services are being developed by interdisciplinary teams at the Agile Training Centers established in Munich and Stuttgart during the year.