We serve the North American market with units in Orlando (head office), Charlotte, Denver and New York. In contrast to the general development of the US risk-oriented life reinsurance market, which further contracted in the year under review, we have been able to increase our market share by double-digit percentages over four consecutive years. It is our expectation that this thoroughly positive trend will be sustained in 2013.

Last year Financial Solutions business offered us exceptionally attractive growth stimuli in the field of structured reinsurance products. We support our US clients here with individual reinsurance concepts designed to provide relief for their reserves and capital. In this sector we draw on our considerable expertise and operate as the market-leading provider.

We substantially boosted our premium volume and improved profitability in the financial year just ended. This was due in particularly large measure to the favourable development of the Financial Solutions market. The risk experience in the area of Mortality Solutions, on the other hand, again lagged behind our expectations. The underlying business is impacted by protracted elevated suicide rates, although these reached their highest point between 2008 and 2009 during the financial crisis and have since been falling. The business was also adversely influenced by unusually high expenditures on peak risks.

While the result in the previous year had been negatively affected by high valuation losses, the investments deposited with our US ceding companies to cover benefit reserves fared consistently well in the year under review. A valuation gain in the mid-double-digit million euro range was recognised for 2012. These valuation fluctuations are directly reflected in income under the item “unrealised gains/losses on investments”. Given that the opposing effects this year virtually cancelled each other out, our net income after tax came in entirely within our expectations. In the year under review we therefore generated a thoroughly gratifying profit after the weak result recorded in the previous year.