Hannover Re’s parent company Talanx has reported group net income of €177 million during the third quarter of 2021, bringing its total for the first nine months of the year to €723 million.
Although the Q3 figure is slightly down from the €194 million reported in the same period last year, the 9M total is up by 39.2% from the previously reported €520 million.
Operating profit saw a similar trend, falling by 7.2% to €506 million for the three-month period, but climbing by 42.5% to €1.84 billion for the nine months.
Gross written premiums, meanwhile, increased by 11.9% to €11.1 billion in Q3 and by 10.2% to €35.2 billion in 9M.
Within the reinsurance segment specifically, GWP rose by 12.0% to €21.6 billion and operating profit rose from €915 million to €1.29 billion, while the contribution to group net income rose from €334 million to €427 million.
For P&C reinsurance business, the underwriting result improved sharply to €219 million from a Q3 2020 loss of €187 million, while the combined ratio improved by 3.5 percentage points to 97.9%.
All in all, Talanx saw net large losses from natural disasters amount to €1.1 billion in the period up to 30 September, with additional large man-made losses €394 million.
Large losses in the reinsurance division totalled €1.1 billion, while the figure for primary insurance was €391 million.
The figures for large losses exceeded the pro rata nine-month budget of approximately €1.2 billion and almost reached the full-year budget of €1.5 billion.
Notably, at €956 million, the third quarter accounted for almost two-thirds of all large losses for the reporting period.
In the life and health reinsurance segment, the coronavirus pandemic remained a core issue in the first nine months of the year, particularly in relation to mortality coverage.
Pandemic-related effects in life and health reinsurance amounted to €404 million as at the end of September, with a nearly half of pandemic claims related to cases of sickness and death in the US.
“We have successfully weathered the coronavirus pandemic together,” said Torsten Leue, Chairman of Talanx AG’s Board of Management. “Our nine-month results put us almost back at the high level seen in 2019. We can achieve our targets for 2021 despite the substantial rise in large losses from natural disasters, especially in Q3.”
“This clearly shows that our strategy and our modernisation programmes for the divisions are bearing fruit and have resulted in profitable growth,” Leue continued. “Our reserving policy has enhanced our resilience. We want to continue this journey so as to successfully meet future challenges as well. Our goal for 2022 is for Group net income to top the EUR 1 billion mark for the first time.”
