"We had a strong start to 2016, reinforcing our confidence that we will be able to reach our outlook for 2016 despite the fact that this is a challenging year for the financial services industry," said Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz SE. "Despite the market volatility and low interest rates, we continue to expect an operating profit for the full year of 10.5 billion euros, plus or minus 500 million euros."