Project Future

Allianz Private Krankenversicherung (APKV) is currently investing 35 billion euros in the capital market. What do customers get out of it – and how sustainable are the investments? APKV CFO Klaus Berge talks about this in an interview.

Mr. Berge, the APKV invests money in the capital markets for its policyholders. What for? Investment is a key element of health insurance, although it is not well known. In this way, we ensure that premiums do not rise in old age, simply because people are getting older and tend to go to the doctor more often. 

How does it work? Our customers pay in a little more in their younger years than would initially be necessary for their medical care. We invest this additional amount – for example in the capital market, in real estate or in infrastructure projects, such as wind turbines. Later, these investment returns are fed back to the insured and "subsidize" the remaining premiums. The more successful an investment strategy is, the higher this benefit will be, i.e. the lower are the respective insurance premiums. If you compare our investment performance with the market, it is more stable and delivers a higher return, which is a great achievement of our AIM colleagues and our Group internal asset managers.

Why can premiums still rise? In fact, it is not the age of the individual insured person that is the decisive factor, but first and foremost medical progress. Today, medical care is more effective than ever before, but it also costs much more.  

How sustainable is APKV's investment? Our investments are increasingly geared toward sustainable investments. They offer attractive return opportunities in the long term, and we want to support the transformation toward a CO2-neutral economy. Anyone who invests over a period as long as private health insurance must take sustainability into account.

What does that mean in concrete terms? One clear example is coal. An investment in coal will hardly generate profits in the future. As another example, APKV, together with Allianz Lebensversicherung, recently invested a total of 700 million in the "FOUR Tower 1" in Frankfurt am Main, the third-highest office tower in Germany. The property is set to receive Germany's highest sustainability certification. This illustrates that we have a clear focus on climate protection and decarbonization and are already implementing our goal of structuring capital investments in a climate-neutral way by 2050 in various asset classes. 

These are special times to be responsible for sustainably investing health insurance policy premiums. When our customers purchase a health insurance policy from Allianz, they too are an integral part of investing in a greener future.