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

investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

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

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

. 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 and Elizabeth Corley.

History

first created a separate asset management business in 1974 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 Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) is an American investment management firm. While it has a specific focus on active fixed income management worldwide, it manages investments in many asset classes, including fixed income, share ca ...

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 In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

were EUR 535bn; these assets were split between investments in equity (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 pr ...

(35%), multi asset (26%) and

alternatives Founded in 1994, Alternatives, Action and Communication Network for International Development, is a non-governmental, international solidarity movement, international solidarity organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Alternatives works ...

(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 misled 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 1 August 2021, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

began a probe into Allianz Global's Structured Alpha Funds with the German

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (), better known by its abbreviation BaFin, is Germany's integrated financial regulatory authority. Since 2014, it has been Germany's national competent authority within European Banking Supervision. ...

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 program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...

s, including

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

employees and employees of the City of

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. 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, was 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 Asset management companies