Allianz refused to comment Tuesday on a report that it will unload the personal insurance arm of Fireman’s Fund, its U.S. subsidiary, due to repeated operating losses.
“Allianz never comments on market speculations,” spokeswoman Stefanie Rupp-Menedetter told Carrier Management via email, declining to say anything else about the issue.
Similarly, Fireman’s Fund spokeswoman Janet Ruiz told Carrier Management’s sister publication Insurance Journal that “there is no announcement.”
“I don’t have a comment,” Ruiz said.
Over the weekend, Reuters reported on the alleged sale plans, based on a story that first appeared in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The plan, according to that original story, is to sell off Fireman’s Fund’s personal insurance business, and then blend its commercial coverage into Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, Allianz’ industrial insurance unit arm, Reuters said, quoting the German newspaper.
As Reuters noted, Firman’s Fund has faced wider underwriting losses, and Allianz said in August that it had to increase reserves at the unit to cover past large losses.
Allianz CFO Dieter Wemmer called Fireman’s Fund “a true disappointment” during his company’s 2014 second quarter earnings call, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the conversation.