Joachim Wenning has begun his new life as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at reinsurance firm Munich Re today, after Nikolaus von Bomhard stepped down yesterday.
Wenning had been announced as the new CEO and Chairman in March, when von Bomhard requested to leave the Board of Management and step down as the reinsurers CEO on 26th April 2017.
Bernd Pischetsrieder, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Munich Re, paid tribute to von Bomhard at the reinsurers AGM yesterday, saying; “Nikolaus von Bomhard took over at the helm of Munich Re at a difficult time, and successfully repositioned the Group’s strategy; this allowed Munich Re to survive the financial crisis unscathed.”
von Bomhard commented on his time at Munich Re and stressed the importance of innovation for the reinsurer; “Our aim is to understand the opportunities and risks of new technologies earlier and better than the competition, and to develop new products and business models on the basis of this knowledge. I am proud of what Munich Re has initiated in terms of innovation across the whole Group.”
He also left a departing word on the financial performance of Munich Re, saying that the reinsurer remains on track to meet its profit targets.
“The consolidated result of €2.6bn was in the upper half of our profit guidance. We generated these profits under difficult circumstances, without weakening the Company’s core. So we are happy with the result.” Von Bomhard said: “A provisional estimate of business performance in the first three months of the year indicates that to date we are well on track to reach our profit target for 2017,” von Bomhard said.
Joachim Wenning (aged 52) takes over as the new Chairman of the Board of Management at Munich Re and the firm’s CEO today, 27th April 2017.
He will be tasked with continuing the successful, to-date, transition of Munich Re from a company providing largely reinsurance only, to a diversified global reinsurance and insurance group thanks to recent focus on its ERGO arm, and with its underwriting and servicing processes driven by innovation and technology.
