Which raises the question: Why not combine Pimco and AGI, or at least some back-office operations, instead of having the two compete for clients? Hunt rebuffs the idea, saying the firms are too different to make that work. AGI, which oversees €481 billion ($511 billion) out of Frankfurt, had been a collection of boutique managers under one roof. “Pimco is the exact opposite,” she says, adding, “we are committed to the two-pillar strategy.”
Analysts say there’s more Allianz could do to help sell the products of its money managers. “Leveraging synergies between insurance and asset management will be a key opportunity for Jackie Hunt at Allianz,” says Marc Thiele, a consultant who was formerly an insurance analyst at Mediobanca, UBS, and other firms. Hunt says Allianz and AGI are jointly exploring ways to service retail clients in places where there’s demand and where the companies don’t have a big enough presence, such as Asia.
Toward the end of the interview, Hunt talks about how being a mother of two teenagers has taught her patience. She says she likes to know what makes people tick. She’s also learned that being dogmatic creates unnecessary conflict. Only time will tell if these life skills prove useful in overseeing her new charges.
Suess covers investing in Munich. Jones covers investing in London. With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster and John Gittelsohn. This story appears in the February/March 2017 issue of Bloomberg Markets.