Awwal 21, 1432 H/Feb 24, 2011, SPA -- Allianz, Europe's biggest insurance group, posted a 12-per-cent increase in net income Thursday to 5.2 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars), with its chief executive saying it was emerging more powerful than before from the period of financial crisis, according to dpa. But the German-based group called European Union plans to demand more robust equity ratios at EU-based insurers a "threat" to its traditional life-insurance business. The EU has code-named the project Solvency II. Chief executive Michael Diekmann said that forcing insurers to put more equity behind their liabilities to customers would make pay-out guarantees much more expensive to finance and that life policies would become unattractive compared to other investments. "A really important building block in private retirement planning would be eliminated," he warned in Munich. The group said its revenues rose 9.3 per cent last year to a record 106.5 billion euros. Operating profit grew 17 per cent to 8.2 billion euros and net income was up 12 percent to 5.2 billion euros. "We are highly profitable and are coming out of the crisis years 2008 and 2009 stronger than before," he said. Allianz had made especial gains in its sub-businesses providing investment funds and other investment products. The group disclosed that at the start of this year it was holding bonds issued by shaky eurozone governments worth 8.1 billion euros. The bulk of the paper, 4.9 billion euros, was issued by Spain, followed by Greece with 1.3 billion euros. But the financial department said this exposure totalled only 2 per cent of Allianz's overall holdings of all bonds, worth 395.6 billion euros.
