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Allianz to chip in €300 million for Greece: Report

Posted On: Jul. 4, 2011 12:00 AM CST

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters)—German insurer Allianz S.E. will chip in €300 million ($436 million) to a fresh Greek rescue, the company's chief executive officer told a German magazine.

"We are talking about a financing commitment of the Allianz Group of about €300 million by 2014," Michael Diekmann told Der Spiegel in an interview.

Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had said on Thursday that the country's financial institutions will contribute €3.2 billion ($4.6 billion), agreeing to roll over at least their Greek debt holdings that mature by 2014.

On Saturday, euro zone finance ministers agreed to disburse a further €12 billion ($17 billion) to Greece and said the details of a second aid package for Athens — expected to be of a similar magnitude to last year's €110 billion ($160 billion) bailout — would be finalized by mid-September.

Sources last week said Deutsche Bank was likely to contribute less than €1 billion($1.5 billion), while Commerzbank , Germany's second-biggest lender, was likely to contribute far less than €1 billion ($1.5 billion).

Mr. Diekmann also told Der Spiegel that Allianz had made a proposal of how to protect taxpayers from having to bear the burden of Greece's high debts.

"Part of the money earmarked for the European Stability Mechanism shall be spent on creating a bond insurer. It would insure bonds up to a nominal value of, for instance, 90%. That way investors get clarity over the maximal loss possible, namely 10%," he said.

He added that this would give affected states the possibility to return to the capital markets at reasonable lending rates.