FRANKFURT (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 16, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the ratings and outlook on Germany-based Allianz AG (AZAG; AA-/Negative/A-1+) and its related entities (collectively Allianz Group) remain unchanged following AZAG's report of strong second-quarter 2004 results, which are generally in line with Standard&Poor's expectations. Standard&Poor's recognizes the positive trend in profitability, but believes that there remains some execution risk in fully implementing the group's "3+one program", particularly in extracting the full value of its bancassurance model. Standard and Poor's will also continue to closely monitor the sustainability of the upward trend in earnings. Specifically, Standard&Poor's expects Allianz group to achieve a combined ratio in both 2004 and 2005 of
