In 1900 the company became the first insurer to obtain a license to distribute corporate policies . In 1904 Paul Von Naher took over the sole leadership of the company , as it moved into the US and other markets . Markets entered by 1914 included the Netherlands , Italy , Belgium , France , the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States , and Allianz had become the largest maritime insurer in Germany . The company suffered an early disaster in expansion , when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake caused the company to sustain 300,000 marks in losses . In 1905 the company acquired Fides Insurance Company , a firm that had innovated the first form of home invasion insurance . Other places it would expand into during the 1910s and 1920s included Palestine , Cyprus , Iraq , China , the Dutch Indies , Ceylon , and Siam
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Allianz