Market Leader in the Domestic Market
While the large international reinsurers had dominated the business for decades, they increasingly withdrew from Germany and turned their attention to new global markets, such as Asia. Whereas this fragmented business with German primary insurers was losing importance for them, it became attractive for Deutsche Rück.
New partners wanted
The German market was and still is characterised by many small and medium-sized insurers. Following the withdrawal of the major players, these insurers had to look for new reinsurance partners. This was especially true for mutual insurers, which often operated regionally and required not only the necessary reinsurance cover, but also specialised services, for example in pricing and claims analysis.
Opportunity Seized
Deutsche Rück seized the opportunity. As a long-standing reinsurer and provider of comprehensive services for public insurers, it was able to leverage its extensive expertise in the German market.
Unique NatCat-Expertise
Through its ‘Annual Weather Documentation’ (Sturmdokumentation), Deutsche Rück has been documenting its specialist expertise in natural hazards since 1997. In this publication, natural hazard experts describe and analyse weather events in Germany and provide important background information to help classify these events in terms of both meteorological factors and the resulting damage, and to draw the correct conclusions regarding current and future natural hazard occurrences.
All Annual Weather Documentations (in German)
With its specialised know-how, Deutsche Rück was able to support primary insurers in their core business – such as property insurance. This made the company attractive to small and medium-sized insurers.
Long-Term Partnerships
Similar to its business with the German public insurers, Deutsche Rück offered its new clients long-term business relationships and partnerships that extended across market cycles. Thanks to its special shareholder structure, with the public insurers as owners, and as a non-listed public limited company, it was also protected from the influence of the international capital markets.
This made Deutsche Rück an important partner for the German market, which continued to rely on the traditionally close and long-term cooperation between primary insurers and reinsurers.
Market Leader in Germany
From the mid-2000s onwards, business with clients outside the group of public insurers increased significantly. In 2013, Deutsche Rück – together with the traditional cooperative reinsurance business operated through the Association of German Public Insurers – was the largest reinsurer in the German market.
Gross premiums for 2013 in P&C reinsurance in € million
Source: Versicherungsmonitor Deutschland, Germany, 22 July 2014
It was a long journey from the company’s modest beginnings in 1951 as a reinsurance institution for public insurers only to becoming the market leader in Germany.