Hanover:
Hannover Re, the fourth-largest reinsurer in the world, said its treaty renewals as at 1 April 2019 increased by 6.6 per cent.The company is targeting a combined ratio of no more than 97 per cent in 2019..
Business in Japan is traditionally renewed at this time of year and treaties also come up for renewal – albeit on a lesser scale – in the markets of Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America.
In Japan rates improved markedly in the wake of previous natural catastrophe losses. This led to sometimes considerable increases in reinsurance prices for non-proportional catastrophe business. Hannover Re boosted its premium volume here while maintaining broadly stable exposures.
The renewal of parts of the North American portfolio also proved highly successful; altogether, premium income in this area grew by around 18 per cent, mainly stemming from new business opportunities.
In life and health reinsurance Hannover Re anticipates further good opportunities to add to the portfolio.Based on constant exchange rates, Hannover Re's expectation is that gross premium in total business will grow by a single-digit percentage. The company envisages a return on investment of at least 2.8 per cent for 2019.
The operating profit (EBIT) posted by Hannover Re increased by 3.7% to EUR 450.0 million (EUR 433.9 million). Group net income reached EUR 293.7 million, surpassing the previous year's figure by 7.4 per cent.
The reinsurer's gross premium showed a significant growth by rising by 19.2 per cent at 31 March 2019 to EUR 6.4 billion (EUR 5.3 billion). Adjusted for exchange rate effects, growth would have reached 16.1 per cent.The retention decreased to 90.4% (91.3%). Net premium earned climbed by 15.3% to EUR 4.6 billion (EUR 4.0 billion).
Gross written premium of the company in Property and casualty reinsurance segment improved by 22.8 per cent to EUR 4.4 billion (EUR 3.6 billion); adjusted for exchange rate effects, the increase would have been 19.4 per cent. The retention rose to 91.9% (91.6%). Net premium earned climbed by 20.8 per cent to EUR 2.9 billion (EUR 2.4 billion); growth would have reached 18.0per cent at constant exchange rates.
With net expenditure on large losses coming in at EUR 59.0 million (EUR 73.4 million), the impact on the first quarter was lower than in the comparable period and thus well below the envisaged quarterly budget of EUR 175 million. Amounting to EUR 25.2 million, the largest single loss event was flooding in Australia, which caused widespread devastation in the state of Queensland, followed by storm Eberhard in Germany at EUR 15.2 million.
The combined ratio of the comoany in this segment improved slightly to 95.7 per cent (95.9 per cent). The operating profit (EBIT) in property and casualty reinsurance was virtually unchanged at EUR 334.4 million (EUR 338.9 million). Group net income contracted by 6.7 per cent to EUR 219.0 million (EUR 234.8 million).
The portfolio of assets under own management of the company increased in the first quarter of 2019 to EUR 44.8 billion (31 December 2018: EUR 42.2 billion). Ordinary investment income totalled EUR 323.2 million (EUR 315.8 million) and was thus slightly higher than in the previous year
At the end of the Annual General Meeting on 8 May 2019 Jean-Jacques Henchoz will succeed Ulrich Wallin as Chief Executive Officer of Hannover Re.
At the same time, Ulrich Wallin is retiring in accordance with the company's statutes after his extremely successful service to Hannover Re.
The Supervisory Board of Hannover Rück SE appointed Jean-Jacques Henchoz as a member of the Executive Board with effect from 1 April 2019. He was most recently responsible for both life and non-life reinsurance business in the region Europe, Middle East and Africa at a major reinsurer.