Oliver Bäte, chief executive officer of German insurance group Allianz.
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Germany Allianz on Friday hit a net profit for the fourth quarter, marking a return to the black after paying large fees a year earlier for US treasury scandal.
Allianz said the fourth quarter was supported by the strength of its life and health businesses thanks to higher return on investment, Allianz said, while the company’s wealth management division lower fees and charges.
Net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.007 billion euros ($2.13 billion) in the three months to December compared with a loss of 292 million euros a year earlier. Analysts had expected a net profit of 2.034 billion euros.
“We just run a very, very good company,” Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte told CNBC on “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.
“The key message is that the very strong companies that have used Covid to prepare for a much tougher world will be the winners here and there will be a lot of people who don’t.”
Bäte also stressed that the interest rate environment is “really good” for the bank and Allianz will make the most of that.
The return to profit from a year earlier marks a return to business-as-usual for Allianz, which is trying to restore its reputation following the layoffs of its US fund unit. get involved in a scam resulted in a $6 billion deal with the US authorities in May.
Bäte shared a positive outlook for 2023, saying that January saw positive inflows of money into Pimco and other actively managed funds. However, he also emphasized volatility in the market.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty around what policymakers will do, what politics will do, what inflation will do. We have to be careful. It’s really important to make sure that productivity increases, we control our cost side and that we make services stand out,” he said.
Managing Director Allianz told CNBC last year that the market environment was “one of the worst … you can imagine.”
Shares of Allianz fell 3.2% when European markets opened on Friday, with most stocks trading in negative territory after a week of inflation data and earnings reports.
— CNBC contributed to this report.
