21st-century developments
In April 2001, Allianz agreed to acquire the 80 per cent of Dresdner Bank that it did not already own, for US$20 billion. As part of the transaction, Allianz agreed to sell its 13.5 per cent stake in HypoVereinsbank to Munich Re and to acquire Munich Re's 40 per cent stake in Allianz Leben. Following the completion of the acquisition, Allianz and Dresdner Bank combined their asset management activities by forming Allianz Global Investors.
In 2002, Michael Diekmann succeeded Henning Schulte-Noelle as CEO. In June 2006, Allianz announced the layoff of 7,280 employees, about 4 percent of its worldwide workforce at the time, as part of a restructuring program aimed at raising profitability ("Allianz Sustainability P&C and Life"). The reductions comprised 5,000 staff members at Allianz insurance operations and 2,480 at Dresdner Bank. In the same month, Allianz announced that its Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment banking operation would be renamed as simply Dresdner Kleinwort.
In September 2005, Allianz announced that it would convert its holding company into a societas europaea. The conversion was made in conjunction with Allianz's acquisition of 100 per cent control of its principal Italian subsidiary Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà for around US$7 billion. The conversion to an SE was completed on 13 October 2006. The Allianz Group also simplified its brand strategy from 2006 and their previous emblem was replaced by the current combination mark. By 2008 the company was Europe's largest insurer. In 2007, it was a founder member of the Hedge Fund Standards Board, which sets a voluntary code of standards of best practice endorsed by its members.
On 31 August 2008, it was announced that Allianz had agreed to sell 60.2 per cent of Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank for €9.8 billion (US$14.4 billion), with an agreement that Commerzbank would acquire the remainder of Dresdner Bank by the end of 2009. After renegotiations, it was announced in November 2008 that Commerzbank would acquire the 100% ownership of Dresdner Bank earlier (12 January 2009). The sale price was lowered to 5.5 billion Euro. Shortly after the transaction completed, Commerzbank was partially nationalized by the German government to save it from bankruptcy. Allianz currently retains a stake of around 14% in Commerzbank.
Allianz X, founded in 2013 and headed by Nazim Cetin, is Allianz's technology investment fund. In August 2015, a consortium led by Allianz acquired German motorway service station group Tank & Rast for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of €3.5 billion. In April 2018, TH Real Estate and Allianz partnered to provide £100m in debt finance to developers YardNine, for the development of 80 Fenchurch Street, a 240,000 sq ft office development in London. In October 2020, Allianz was named the world's top insurance brand by the Interbrand's Best Global Brands Ranking.
On 1 August 2021, Allianz disclosed that the United States Department of Justice had launched a probe into Allianz to determine the role that executives had played in the loss of billions of euros from Allianz Global's Structured Alpha Funds. In September 2021, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority launched its own probe. On September 30, 2021, it was reported that asset management chief Jacqueline Hunt would step down as part of a shake up that followed the investigations into the losses, staying on as a consultant to Bäte.
On 17 May 2022, Allianz SE has agreed to pay $6 billion in the U.S. fraud case due to the collapse of its Structured Alpha funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2023, Allianz put its 5% stake in fintech company N26 up for sale, with N26 valued at $3 billion (€2.7 billion). Meanwhile, N26 was valued at $9 billion at its last funding round in October 2021.
In December 2024, Allianz announced a withdrawal of its offer to acquire at least 51% of Singapore's Income Insurance which cost around $1.63 billion. This offer was initially put forward in July 2024 but later sparked criticism in Singapore as it concerned that it would detract from the mission of providing an affordable insurance for lower-income workers. The withdrawal came after the Singapore Government intervened to prevent the deal.
In June 2025, Allianz was included in a report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese of companies supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza. Allianz rejected the accusation and maintained that a company cannot be held responsible for the actions of a sovereign government through lawful participation in global financial markets.
On 12 March 2026, Sunlife and Allianz began considering bids for HSBC Holdings' insurance unit, HSBC Life. A sale process was initiated in March, with non-binding bids materialising soon. In July 2026, HSBC announced that it would sell HSBC Life to Allianz for $2.09 Billion.
