Allianz's fund arm AGI can resume business in US, CEO says

MUNICH (Reuters) -Allianz's fund management arm AGI can resume business in the United States after being forced to exit the market following a fraud scandal, the German company's CEO said.

In 2022, the German financial giant agreed to pay more than $6 billion and its U.S. asset management unit pleaded guilty to criminal securities fraud over the collapse of a group of investment funds early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allianz's settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were among the largest in corporate history and resulted in a ban on AGI operating in the United States.

"We got our license back from the SEC to operate asset management in the U.S. again," Allianz CEO Oliver Baete told journalists on Tuesday.

The original ban was for 10 years.

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner; writing by Tom Sims; editing by Rachel More)