George Sartorel, Allianz Asia’s Regional CEO, comments: “In the past 12 months we’ve continued on our journey to position Allianz to deliver future growth in Asia. Our full year results are driven by strong performance across both business sectors, the focused execution of our strategy, and underpinned by positive customer feedback in the region. As the growth engine for the Group, the work we’ve undertaken in 2018 means we are better placed than ever to deliver on our strategic priorities.

Our Life & Health (L/H) business performed strongly across all key metrics in 2018, with notable investment returns, expense discipline and portfolio growth supporting an operating profit increase of 43 per cent to EUR 275 million. We continued to post quality growth in our preferred product segments, with new business margin strengthening to 5 per cent and new business value improving 11 per cent to EUR 292 million. Strong sales from Taiwan, China, Malaysia and the Philippines supported a 12 per cent uplift in gross written premiums (GWP) to EUR 5.8 billion.

Total revenues in our Property & Casualty (P/C) business rose by 11 per cent to EUR 882 million, with growth in all our major markets. Operating profit fell 2 per cent to EUR 79 million. Adjusting for a one-off reserve item from an earlier period, P/C growth remained strong, with underlying operating profit growing by 40 per cent and combined ratio improving 1.6ppts, reflecting improved underwriting results and expense discipline.

Allianz and JD.com reached an agreement to set-up a digital general insurance business – leveraging JD.com’s position as one of China’s leading e-commerce players.

With this in mind, our recognition of China as a strategically important market for Allianz laid the groundwork towards the preparatory establishment of the country’s first wholly-owned foreign insurance holding company. This is a significant milestone for us to expand our presence and enhance flexibility to increase investment in the fastest growing insurance market in the world.

We are committed to putting our customers first and ensuring they are a central part of our business strategy. We are pleased that in 2018 the share of Allianz businesses whose Net Promoter Score¹ outperformed their respective markets improved to 80 per cent – a seven per cent uplift on the previous year. This positive customer feedback demonstrates the hard work of our employees, and the innovation and investment that we continue to drive each day.

 Allianz Asia is delivering on our growth ambitions and we look ahead positively in 2019.

 Net promotor score – a key metric used by Allianz to measure customer sentiment globally