Allianz Global Investors (commonly called AllianzGI or AGI), is a global

investment management Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...

firm with offices in over 20 locations worldwide. It is owned by the global financial services group

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

. Employing nearly 3,000, it manages over EUR 500 billion in assets on behalf of institutional, retail clients and also of Allianz itself. AGI became known for one of the biggest fraud cases in which its Structured Alpha fund lost over 6 billion dollars in the 2020 market sell-off. As the risk profile of the fund was missold to the investors it led to charges against the company and its managers.

Leadership

Tobias C. Pross is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Allianz Global Investors, a position he has held since the start of 2020. Prior to 2020, Allianz Global Investors was led by founding CEOs

Andreas Utermann Andreas Ernst Ferdinand Utermann (born January 1966) is an Anglo-German businessman. Utermann was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vontobel Holding AG at the company’s AGM on April 6th, 2022. Utermann led Allianz Global Investo ...

and

Elizabeth Corley Dame Elizabeth Pauline Lucy Corley (born 19 October 1956) is a British businesswoman and writer. She is Chair of the Impact Investing Institute. She was CEO of Allianz Global Investors, initially for Europe and then globally, from 2005 to 2016. ...

History

first created a separate asset management business in 1998 under the leadership of board member, Joachim Faber. Through a combination of asset management acquisitions as well as acquisitions of other businesses that had asset management units, Allianz established a large asset management division comprising different investment ‘boutiques’. By 2010 the Allianz asset management division, going under the name of Allianz Global Investors by then had reached EUR 1500bn. In 2011, a decision was taken to combine most of the different investment managers into a globally integrated asset manager; from 2012 Allianz moved to what they call a “two pillar” model where Allianz Global Investors and

PIMCO PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC) is an American investment management firm focusing on active fixed income management worldwide. PIMCO manages investments in many asset classes such as fixed income, equities, commodities, asset ...

operate separately from each other despite common ownership. When Allianz Global Investors was established as an integrated asset manager in 2012, it was managing EUR 279bn in assets. By March 2019, assets under management were EUR 535bn; these assets were split between investments in

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

(25%),

fixed income Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the prin ...

(35%), multi asset (26%) and alternatives (14%).

Structured Alpha Fraud

During the March 2020 market sell-off, the Structured Alpha funds lost over 7 billion USD leading to accusation that the funds mislead investors (such as pension funds) about their risk profile. While the fund claimed that it used hedging to protect against market crashes, no such hedging was actually employed and the fund produced manipulated reports. On August 1, 2021, the United States Department of Justice began a probe into Allianz Global's Structured Alpha Funds with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority launching an investigation later in 2021. Additional lawsuits were filed by investors such as American public

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...

s, including

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

employees and employees of the City of Milwaukee. In 2022 Allianz pleaded guilty to criminal securities fraud and agreed to pay over 6 billion USD in one of the largest cases so far. The funds former manager. Gregoire Tournant, is being indicted for fraud, conspiracy and obstruction and two other portfolio managers, Stephen Bond-Nelson and Trevor Taylor, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy.

References

External links

Company home page
{{Authority control Allianz Investment management companies of Germany Financial services companies established in 1998