The industrial insurer HDI Global SE, part of the Talanx Group, has reported that Q1 2023 insurance revenue was €2.1 billion, up from €1.8 billion in the same quarter last year, while the firm’s combined ratio of 93.2% came in below the stated medium-term target of 95%.
According to HDI, the favourable development in insurance revenue can be attributed to liability business, as well as the fire and engineering lines.
Specialty business also played a part in the positive result, delivering insurance revenue of €681 million, up from €615 million in Q1 of 2022.
Dr Edgar Puls, Chief Executive Officer of HDI Global, commented, “The good numbers demonstrate the quality of our underwriting, but they also underscore how we consider ourselves a partner for our clients: We stand ready to support them over the long term, including in a preventive advisory role with our range of services aimed at ensuring that many losses do not even occur in the first place.”
Elsewhere, HDI’s Q1 2023 underwriting result increased to €141 million, up from €69 million in Q1 of 2022. HDI suggests this was due to a modest volume of large losses and an improved frequency loss ratio.
The largest individual loss event the firm suffered in Q1 was the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, at a cost of €15 million.
HDI states that total payments for large losses were less than in the comparable period, coming in at €34, compared to €91 million in Q1 of 2022.
The combined ratio consequently decreased to 93.2%, a level below the medium-term target of 95%, further assisted by a low volume of frequency losses and the rise in the interest rate level.
Dr Puls continued, “This success is a testimony to the effectiveness of our optimization programmes implemented since 2019.
“We have completed the turnaround and are now in a phase where the focus is on consistently reinforcing worldwide our claim to be a leading international industrial insurer by supporting our clients with tailor-made solutions.
“With this goal in mind, we have put in place a robust foundation in recent years.”
HDI’s Q1 2023 net insurance finance and investment result before currency effects amounted to €21 million, down from €54 million, reflecting reduced income from investments under own management and higher interest accretion on technical reserves owing to the rise in interest rates.
Meanwhile, The operating profit (EBIT) reported by HDI Global came in at €86 million, up from €60 million in the prior year’s quarter.
The contribution to the Group net income of Talanx AG stood at €69 million, up from €35 million in Q1 of 2022.
Dr Puls concluded, “Based on the good operating profit as well as the near doubling of our contribution to Group net income, HDI Global is doing justice to its traditional importance within the Talanx Group.
“Since HDI was first established some 120 years ago, industrial insurance has formed the core of our business. Today, there are more than 4,500 members of staff around the world who I would like to thank for their expertise and dedication.
“Furthermore, my thanks go out to the brokers and clients with whom we have enjoyed partnership-based relationships in most cases spanning quite a number of years.
“Going forward, as we have in the past, we shall support and enable their entrepreneurial progress.”
