Allianz does well from health and travel
International health and assistance policies proved to be the biggest revenue growth sectors for Allianz Partners last year, followed closely by travel insurance.
Between them they helped to keep income on the rise in 2018 – up by 1.8 per cent on the previous year to €8.61 billion – while operating profits surged ahead by 39 per cent, to €566 million.
The company said it had been ‘a year of strong results’, with growth boosted by the introduction of a new global plan with a focus on innovation, harmonisation of the distribution model and the ‘development of new speedy solutions for partners and their customers’.
With new CEO Sirma Boshnakova taking over from Rémi Grenier at the start of April, the company said 2018 had seen ‘sustained growth in all the regions, led by assistance and international health’.
However, travel was not far behind the assistance sector, with a 4.7-per-cent rise in sales to €2.11 billion, led chiefly by direct sales in the Americas and Europe and B2B2C trade in the Americas and the Asia Pacific region.
International health, meanwhile, grew by 6.5 per cent to €1.82 billion, mainly through the insurance business of Allianz’s NextCare brand, which saw rapid expansion in the Middle East.
Vehicle insurance, however, took a 5.1-per-cent hit, falling to €2.74 billion, with Europe now followed closely by the Asia Pacific as the main markets.
The results were released as Allianz said farewell to Rémi Grenier –
who joined them in 2006 – a man the company described as being ‘instrumental in forming Allianz Partners Group and leading its growth story’.
New CEO Sirma Boshnakova has joined from Allianz SE, where she was head of the business division for western and southern Europe, after a career that started at Boston Consulting Group led her into pharmaceuticals and then insurance.
“I am delighted to be joining Allianz Partners at a time when it enters its next strategic cycle” she said.