Allianz Group, Europe's largest insurer, has beaten market forecasts with a net income of €1.32bn for the second quarter of 2012 – a year-on-year increase of 23.2 per cent.

Total revenues increased by 2.5 per cent to €25.2bn (2011: €24.6bn).

The group’s life and health insurance division’s net income grew by 136 per cent to €506m (2011: €214m), while asset management brought in a net income of €345m (a 19.4 per cent increase compared to the same period last year).

Oliver Bäte, CFO of Allianz, said:

Our life and health segment is holding up well in this difficult environment. Profitability remains our primary focus. Quarterly premiums overall are broadly stable - indeed, premiums are even growing in regions that have been hit hard by high market volatility. We are more than satisfied with our asset management business. Its performance has been outstanding throughout the last few years, despite the crisis.

The property and casualty insurance division’s net income declined by 15.2 per cent to €807m (2011: €952m), while the corporate division posted a negative net income of €273m (2011: €363m).

Michael Diekmann, CEO of Allianz, said:

Our consistently good results show that we weather the difficult market conditions very well. Our operative business is stable and remains on course. Despite the challenging environment, we confirm our outlook of an operating profit for 2012 of €8.2bn, plus or minus €0.5bn.