Allianz enters partnership with HSBC

At the Annual General Meeting of Allianz SE, CEO Michael Diekmann announced a strategic partnership with HSBC, said the insurer in a statement.rnrnAllianz has become one of the strategic partners of the global bank HSBC in the property and casualty insurance business. Allianz CEO Michael Diekmann announced this cooperation in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific in his speech at today’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Munich. “I am confident that a very exciting global business relationship can be created here for both partners,” said Diekmann. rnrnGuaranteed annuityrnrnDiekmann also announced the introduction of unit-linked annuity insurance policies with explicit benefit guarantees, following the US and Japanese model: “During the course of 2008, we will be introducing this new product family in several of our core European markets, and in Germany this summer.” He explained that market analyses had demonstrated that there was a strong demand for this combination of capital market performance and security.rnrnDividend increasernrnAs announced, the board of management of Allianz SE has proposed a dividend increase to 5.50 euros per share to the AGM. “This corresponds to an increase of some 45 percent and highlights the fact that we are confident of strong earnings over the long term,” said Diekmann. “As a leading financial services provider, we are concerned to establish our strong position not least with an attractive dividend policy. We want to put this policy into practice with a payout ratio of approximately 31 percent and a dividend yield of more than four percent.”