TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allianz Fire & Marine Insurance Japan Ltd (AZFM) has been awarded an AA rating by Standard & Poor’s rating agency (S&P). This move reflects the Tokyo-based insurer’s new ‘core’ status after it has started its integration into the global network of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), Allianz Group’s specialist brand for international corporate risks.

Standard & Poor’s has assigned this AA long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength rating to AZFM, building on AGCS’s existing AA rating. In its announcement, the rating agency has noted ‘AZFM’s strategic role within the AGCS group’, and that the Japanese company’s ‘core status reflects the comprehensive reinsurance arrangements with AGCS’.

Michael Maicher, President and CEO of AZFM, commented: “As part of AGCS, our aim is to become the leading international corporate insurer in Japan. This new rating is a key step in this process, and builds on the foundations we have established since we set up AZFM as the first licensed European insurer in Japan 20 years ago. With the current highest S&P rating in the Japanese non-life market, we can now offer our clients outstanding financial security as well as the full range of AGCS’s global services – from Energy and Engineering to Risk Consulting and International Insurance programs.”

Japan is an important market for Allianz being the fourth largest Property and Casualty insurance market in the world, and AGCS expects to grow its services for international corporate clients in Japan through AZFM. As part of AGCS, AZFM will now be able to access a specialist network which can support Japanese companies through international insurance programs worldwide in over 150 countries. AGCS will also invest substantially in extending its specially developed insurance systems to Japan, so that AZFM is fully integrated into the AGCS service network. In parallel with this development, AGCS has recently announced new offices in Dubai and South Africa as part of its continuing strategy of building specialist teams in key client locations within the overall Allianz Group company network.

About Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is the Allianz Group’s dedicated brand for corporate and specialty insurance customers. AGCS (consisting of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG and certain affiliated companies operating under the AGCS brand) provides insurance and risk management consultancy across the whole spectrum of marine, aviation and corporate business, including Energy, Engineering, Financial Lines (incl. D&O), Liability and Property insurance, including International Insurance Programs.

Worldwide, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty operates in over 150 countries and territories through the Allianz Group network and through other network partners. It employs more than 2,800 people and provides insurance solutions to more than half of the Fortune Global 500 companies, writing a total of €3.8 billion gross premium worldwide annually (2009).

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty has a Financial Strength Rating of AA (‘Very Strong’) from Standard & Poor’s and of A+ (‘Superior’) from A.M. Best.

www.agcs.allianz.com
www.allianz.co.jp