Business model
With a gross premium volume of around EUR 14.0 billion, Hannover Re is the third-largest reinsurer in the world. We transact reinsurance in our Property & Casualty and Life & Health business groups.
The business models in both property & casualty and life & health reinsurance support our Group’s paramount mission, namely: “Long-term success in a competitive business”. Our entire business operations are geared to our goal of being the best option for our business partners when they come to choose their reinsurance provider. It is for this reason that our clients and their concerns form the focus of our activities.
We generate competitive advantages to the benefit of our clients and shareholders by conducting our insurance business with lower capital costs and administrative expenses than our rivals. In this way we deliver above-average profitability while at the same time being able to offer our customers reinsurance protection on competitive terms.
Through the acceptance of largely uncorrelated reinsurance risks by our Property & Casualty and Life & Health business groups in all lines of business and based on our global presence, we are able to achieve efficient risk diversification. In conjunction with our capital management, this is the key to our comparatively low cost of capital.
With a view to securing our financial strength on a lasting basis, we steer our business with an eye to preserving a capital base that is commensurate with the long-term nature of our business opportunities. This goal is achieved through rigorous risk management aligned with our clearly defined risk appetite.
As a reinsurance specialist, we transact primary insurance in selected market niches as a complement to our reinsurance activities. In this context, we always work together with partners from the primary insurance sector.
Our subsidiary E+S Rückversicherung AG, as the “dedicated reinsurer for the German market”, offers a range of products and services tailored to the specific features of the German market. Of special importance here are the mutual insurers with whom we have established a particularly trusting cooperation that is underscored through their participation in E+S Rück.
In property and casualty reinsurance we consider ourselves to be a reliable, flexible and innovative market player that ranks among the best in any given market. Cost leadership, effective cycle management and superlative risk management are the key elements of our competitive position.
In life and health reinsurance we are recognised – as customer surveys confirm – as one of the top players and the leading provider of innovative solutions. We have achieved this standing by opening up new markets and by fulfilling future customer requirements through the identification and forecasting of emerging trends.
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