Governance and dialogue

As an internationally operating company, Hannover Re bears responsibility in various senses. This is true of its compliance with relevant laws and regulations, but also applies to its relationship with staff, shareholders, the public at large and the cultures within which the company operates. As a company based in Germany, the formal framework that shapes our corporate governance is determined by German law. With few exceptions Hannover Re fulfils all the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code (DCKG). What is more, our Code of Conduct serves as a further guide for our day-to-day actions.

In the year just ended we again reported on our achievements as a responsible enterprise in the form of a stand-alone Sustainability Report. In this regard we follow the currently applicable and internationally recognised guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); we fulfil Application Level B – the intermediate level of transparency – as defined by the GRI.

Since 2009 Hannover Re’s sustainability performance has been regularly evaluated by the rating agency oekom research. Since 2013, upon completion of the current rating process, we have been ranked among the leading companies in our industry and we fulfil the industry-specific minimum requirements. This is reflected in our inclusion in the oekom research Prime Standard.

Building on the active and open dialogue that we initiated with key stakeholder groups in 2010, we conducted a second stakeholder survey in the year just ended. In this context we again engaged in a dialogue with some 30 representatives of the capital market, clients, employees, non-governmental organisations and the public sector, thereby gaining not only recognition for our reporting but also valuable suggestions in relation to future topics.

Our detailed Sustainability Report can be accessed at www.hannover-re.com/sustainability/index.html