SUPERVISORY BOARD REPORT 7 ities for the Audit. Other subjects of the deliberations of the Audit Committee were ascertaining the independence of the Auditor and the implementation of further dispositions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Supervisory Committee ap- pointed the chairman of the Audit Committee, Dr. Manfred Schneider, as Audit Committee Financial Expert in accor- dance with the purpose of this law. The Supervisory Board was regularly informed about the work of the Committees. Annual accounts and consolidated financial statements KPMG Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft AG Wirtschaftsprüfungs- gesellschaft, Munich, audited the financial statements of Allianz AG and the Allianz Group as well as the respective management reports and issued their certification without any reservations. The consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The independent auditors have confirmed that the consolidated financial statements and the management report meet the conditions required to ex- empt the company from its obligation to prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with German law. The financial statements and the auditor’s reports submitted by KPMG were made available to all members of the Super- visory Board in due time. These documents were discussed in depth by the Audit Committee on March 5, 2004, as well as by the Supervisory Board at a meeting held for this purpose on March 17, 2004. The independent auditors participated in these discussions. They presented the results of the audits and were available to provide supplementary information. On the basis of our own review of the financial statements of Allianz AG and the Allianz Group, the correspon- ding management reports and the recommendation for appropriation of profit, we concurred with the findings of the audit by KPMG and approved the financial statements of Allianz AG and the Allianz Group prepared by the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board hereby adopts the individual accounts. We consent to the appropriation of earn- ings as proposed by the Board of Management. Members of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management The five-year mandate of the members of the Super- visory Board elected in 1998 ended with the General Meeting on April 29, 2003. A new Supervisory Board was elected for the term of office from 2003 to 2008. For reasons of age, Dr. Klaus Liesen was not available for re-election. In addi- tion, Ms. Roswitha Schiemann as well as Messrs. Dr. Uwe Haasen, Horst Meyer, Uwe Plucinski, Reinhold Pohl, Jörg Thau and Dr. Bernd W. Voss departed from the Supervisory Board. Mr. Jürgen Dormann resigned his mandate as member of the Supervisory Board with effect from the end of the An- nual General Meeting on May 5, 2004. Mr. Dormann’s seat on the Board will be filled by Dr. Albrecht Schäfer as elected substitute member. We thanked the departing members for their constructive and trusting collaboration in our body during the past term of office. Our special thanks go to Dr. Liesen, who was a member of the Supervisory Board for almost two decades and presided as its judicious and highly respected chairman for seven years. At the constitutive meeting of the new Supervisory Board in April 2003, Dr. Henning Schulte-Noelle was elected as its chairman and Mr. Norbert Blix as its deputy chairman. For reasons of age, Dr. Horst Müller retired from the Board of Management on December 31, 2003. He had been responsible for Group Financial Risk Management. This function will be assumed at Group level by Dr. Perlet in addi- tion to his present responsibilities. We expressed our thanks to Dr. Müller for the committed work he performed for many years at Dresdner Bank and, since 2001, also at Allianz. In our capacity as members of the Supervisory Board, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Allianz Group companies for their personal effort and commitment. Munich, March 17, 2004 For the Supervisory Board: Dr. Henning Schulte-Noelle Chairman “Aue