ALLIANZ GROUP 44 Distribution  costs and administrative expenses came to 22.1 bil- lion euros in 2003 and were thus 2.4 billion euros or 9.7 per- cent lower than in the previous year, despite higher revenues. In each individual segment, absolute costs were reduced in comparison to the previous year. They amounted to 549 million euros in property and casualty insurance, to 550 million euros in life and health insurance, to 991 million euros in banking and to 173 million euros in the asset management segment. Premium income from the  insurance business  grew 2.8 percent to 85.0 (82.7) billion euros. After adjustment for consolidation and currency effects, growth came to 7.3 percent. In IFRS ac- counts, which only recognize the risk and cost elements in pre- miums from investment-oriented products, we increased our revenues 0.4 percent to 63.4 billion euros. Operating revenues from the banking business declined by 10.9 percent to 6.7 billion euros. Adjusted for consolidation and cur- rency effects, the decrease came to only 3.1 percent. Earnings before taxes and amortization of goodwill came to 3.9 billion euros, following a loss of 147 million euros in the pre- vious year. The amount of taxes actually paid reached 1,565 (918) million euros. But this was offset by deferred tax assets of 1,435 (1,686) million euros, which resulted in a tax charge of 130 (tax income of 768) million euros. After deduction of minority interest, which increased from 688 million to 782 mil- lion euros, we posted  net income of 1.6 billion euros. Earnings per share amounted to 4.77 (– 4.44) euros. In the  asset management segment, we increased  investments for third-party investors in euro accounts by 4 to 565 billion euros. At constant exchange rates, the increase would have amounted to 72 billion euros. The operating result grew 48 percent to 733 million euros. Adjusted for currency effects, mainly due to the weaker U.S. dollar with respect to the euro, the operating re- sult would have grown 73 percent to 855 million euros. Group investments generated income of 16.9 billion euros. While current income fell to 15.5 (17.8) billion euros, the bal- ance of realized gains and losses – essentially from the sale of shares in Beiersdorf AG – increased by 1.6 billion euros to 5.7 billion euros. Despite the recovery in the financial markets, the balance of write-ups and write-downs was still clearly negative (3.4 billion euros). Amortization of goodwill increased to 1.4 (1.2) billion euros, mainly due to an unscheduled write-down of 224 million euros on our company in South Korea. At the end of the year, the current value of the  Group’s invest- ments was 398.8 billion euros. This figure also includes 86.4 billion euros of investments from banking business. On the whole, Group investments declined by 1.0 percent from the previous year (403.0 billion euros). To reduce the exposure of our earn- ings to fluctuations in the capital markets we further reduced the equity share of our investments from 19 percent to the cur- rent 16.4 percent, despite higher stock market prices. The  claims ratio in the property and casualty insurance business improved by 6.7 percentage points to 71.5 percent, boosted by our portfolio restructurings and the success of our turnaround programs, and additionally favored by relatively low payouts for major and elementary losses. Outstanding  financial liabilities of Allianz AG (for further details please refer to page 33 of the Annual Report) totaled 12.9 (15.2) billion euros. The corresponding interest came to 681 million euros in the reporting year. In February 2004 we issued a sub- ordinated bond with a nominal value of 1.5 billion euros. We thereby took advantage of the low interest environment and the high liquidity in the market to refinance short-term by long-term debt at attractive conditions. Earnings Financial assets