Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte does not want to say whether he is looking for an extension after his contract expires in 2024. We’ll see later, he said. It also depends on whether he can succeed the current Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Michael Diekmann, in 2026. Because there must be a two-year cooling-off period between the position as CEO and a supervisory board mandate. It is possible that he does not want to become the head of the supervisory board at all: Large investors are increasingly critical of former bosses overseeing the company. Bäte can shine with good figures for 2022: With sales of 153 billion euros – an increase of 2.8 percent – operating profit rose by 5.7 percent to 14.2 billion euros. However, the group had to digest 1.9 billion euros in further compensation payments and fines from a fraud scandal in the USA and 400 million euros in expenses from the withdrawal from Russia. As a result, after-tax profit rose by just 1.1 percent to 7.2 billion euros. Allianz still wants to increase the dividend again: Shareholders should receive EUR 11.40 per share for 2022 and EUR 10.80 for 2021.
Allianz earned more in property insurance in 2022 because it was able to raise prices. Life insurance also contributed to the increase in profits, even if part of the new business collapsed: customers concluded significantly fewer contracts for a one-off payment. In contrast, investors withdrew more than 80 billion euros from investments.