Allianz confident for 2016 after 'strong' year in 2015

German insurer Allianz said Friday it is "confident" for business this year after turning in a "strong" performance in 2015.

"Allianz steadily delivers strong results in increasingly challenging operating conditions. Our business is healthy and well-diversified," said chief executive Oliver Baete.

"This makes us confident that we will continue to deliver strong earnings."

Allianz notched up net profit of 6.616 billion euros ($7.4 billion) last year, an increase of 6.3 percent over the previous year.

Underlying or operating profit grew by 3.2 percent to 10.735 billion euros on a 2.4-percent increase in revenues to 125.2 billion euros.

Finance chief Dieter Wemmer said that full-year earnings were driven primarily by a very strong fourth quarter.

"Strong performance in our insurance operations plus performance fees in asset management in the fourth quarter drove full-year operating profit close to the top of the target earnings range." Wemmer said.

"Active risk management led to a strong capital ratio ... leaving us well prepared for today's volatile markets."

Looking ahead to the current year, Baete said Allianz was pencilling in operating profit of 10.5 billion euros in 2016, "plus or minus 500 million euros."

Given the positive outlook, the group planned to pay a dividend of 7.30 euros per share for 2015, up from 6.85 euros for the previous year, Allianz said.