Joachim Faber, the chief executive of German insurance and pension provider Allianz, has told Germany's Boersen-Zeitung newspaper that his company's pensions operations in continental Europe and Asia are on strong foundations.

Reported by IPE.com, Faber said that Allianz Global Investors was consistently getting a good share from schemes in Germany, France and Italy, while Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea were also good markets for the company.

The Allianz boss said that Asia accounted for 20% of AGI’s total net inflows during 2005 – compared with 5% in previous years, while Europe accounted for 30%.

Looking to the future, Mr Faber added that Allianz was expecting to develop its Asian business even further through the significant growth of its Chinese operations once the Chinese government approves the sale of funds targeted at institutional investors some time this year.