[Berlin] The German insurance group Allianz AG is to set up portals on which Allianz subsidiaries can present themselves to their respective markets. Yearly investments in the region of a hundred million Euros, will finance the project. In the future, Allianz customers will receive additional services and information on the net, explained Allianz chief executive Henning Schulte-Noelleat at a financial press conference in Munich.

The Allianz announced Cisco Systems to be their strategic e-business advisor and to aid in extending a data, voice and video network. The project concentrates on customer care, e-commerce and the optimization of internal processes, as well as building the necessary IT infrastructure.

Analysts have always lamented the fact that the Allianz, one of the biggest insurance groups worldwide, has up until now been limping behind its competitors in the age of the New Economy in terms of its Internet activities.

The insurance group also wants to enter the market with a policy to protect against the potential risks of the Internet.