OREANDA-NEWS. Till 15 September 2011, Allianz ROSNO Life will have a scheduled tranche of a structured investment insurance product Allianz Asset+ offered via the company’s chain of financial consultants. For the Russian market, Allianz Asset+ is an innovative financial solution. A client may invest a significant amount counting on potentially high yield, while being guaranteed 100% protection of all investments and risk coverage. This solution fully corresponds to the Russian legislation, at the same time being similar to the products offered in the Unit-linked segment in the western markets, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

Initially, the structured investment insurance product was developed by Allianz ROSNO Life in 2009. Starting from 2010, the agent network handled two tranches of Allianz Asset+ based on the RTS index. In 2011, Allianz ROSNO Life’s investment insurance product was named the "Most Valuable Innovation" in the international innovation contest Allianz Global Innovation Awards and was awarded with Russia’s sole national insurance premium Golden Salamander in the nomination "Innovation of the Year".

The investment insurance product Allianz Asset+ combines the following advantages:

capital protection enabling preservation of investments regardless of any stock market fluctuations;

possibility to choose a basic asset whose dynamics is linked to the return on the investment strategy — RTS index or Gold;

a unique investment strategy making it possible to gain, in the medium or long-term perspective, an additional return comparable to, or even exceeding, the yield on the underlying asset;

all advantages of classical accumulative life insurance products — insurance protection, legal protection, and optimal tax regime. According to the Article 213 of the RF TC, in case of the "Survivorship" risk, tax base is reduced by the amount of contributions made throughout the contract’s effective period, multiplied by the average annual CBRF refinancing rate; and case of the "Death" risk, insurance compensation is not taxable.

The minimum contribution under the current tranche of Allianz Asset+ equals 100,000 roubles or 3,000 US dollars. The Allianz Asset+ salespeople underwent special training and testing as regards investment decisions. The program may be subscribed for in the head office of Allianz ROSNO Life in Moscow, as well as in the company’s large regional subdivisions.

Says Alexei Rudenko, Deputy CEO of Allianz ROSNO Life and chief developer of the product: "As a result of the crisis, whose peak in our country was in 2008, many investors and SIF participants sustained heavy losses and transferred their funds into bank deposits. On the other hand, in 2009 and 2010, there was a strong growth in the stock markets, and investors were again willing to have their share of the securities market growth. However, they still remembered about the large losses they sustained in 2008, so capital protection was imperative. Just at the same time, in late 2009, we found that the market needed structured investment products with one hundred percent protection of funds, aiming to restore the securities market in the medium-term perspective. Thus, instead of competing in the traditional life insurance segments, we formed the demand for an all-new type of financial service. The recent abrupt stock market fluctuations in August 2011 demonstrated our clients how well the product performed — while RTS index collapsed by over 20% in a single week, our clients’ funds remained protected, thus enabling them to calmly wait for the market recovery, making no reckless operations which could lead to investment losses.

We still believe that the Russian stock market is an attractive investment destination in the medium-term perspective, based upon the fundamental factors of growth of the Russian economy; therefore, we offer our clients a medium-term investment strategy whose yield is linked to the RTS index dynamics. Anyway, keeping in mind the high degree of uncertainty characterizing the current state of the world economy (primarily, the US and the eurozone), we have offered our clients a new version of this program, whose yield is linked to the gold price dynamics. The historical data show that in the periods of instability gold prices, as a rule, demonstrate positive dynamics. For example, during the US recession in 1973 to 1974, the price of gold grew almost fourfold — from 42 to 160 US dollars per ounce. Central banks keep their reserves in US dollars and gold bars, standing alongside private and corporate investors playing a leading role in formation of the price of gold. We are confident that the new version of the Allianz Asset+ product will enable our clients to get their investment portfolios even more diversified, reliably securing their cash inflows."