ASIC reengineers its organization

Driving this restructuring is ASIC's commitment to the shared-services approach which the service provider is implementing across Europe for the Allianz Group. ASIC is tasked with delivering to the Group valuable economies of scale in IT. In addition, with the former Allianz subsidiary Dresdner Bank now sold to Commerzbank, ASIC will in 2010 be cascading the impact of this sale into the Group's IT landscape.

Against this backdrop, the company has in recent months initiated a program to investigate further ways to improve efficiency. With analysis focusing on processes, technology, organization and overhead costs, measures have been developed to offer even greater value for money in the ASIC services. The new structure which was the outcome of this process is now being discussed with the works' council and is scheduled for introduction in Spring 2010.

In connection with the realignment the roughly 200 ASIC employees in Frankfurt who used to provide services for Dresdner Bank will be transferred to Commerz Systems. Commerz Systems is the IT subsidiary of Commerzbank. This is a highly viable solution for the Frankfurt ASIC staff and for the companies involved. The transfer of operations takes effect on 1 April 2010.

Under the auspices of the program, a further 200 jobs will be reduced next year. ASIC Chief Executive Officer Markus T. Muller emphasizes: "We will be operating a voluntary program offering very good packages to employees who can envisage making a professional change."

ASIC has the objective to consolidate the Allianz IT infrastructure in Europe and assist the Allianz Group and its national subsidiaries in their core business. "We want to offer the Allianz companies in Europe the best possible service. And we want to benchmark ourselves against the best in the industry," said Müller. "Only if we offer competitive, excellent quality will our internal customers decide for us in the future, too."