Munich Re raises profit guidance for 2023

Munich Re is aiming for a consolidated profit of around €4 billion for the 2023 financial year under the new reporting standard IFRS 17.

Insurance revenues, which represent the IFRS 17 item that will supersede “premiums” in future, are expected to reach around €58 billion. It is anticipated that the return on investment will amount to at least 2.2%.

In its reinsurance business, Munich Re anticipates insurance revenues of about €39 billion and a profit of around €3.3 billion in 2023. The combined ratio in property-casualty reinsurance is likely to improve significantly to around 86%, mainly owing to the disclosure method per IFRS 17 compared to the method under IFRS 4.

All forecasts and targets face increased uncertainty owing to fragile macroeconomic developments, volatile capital markets and the unclear future of the pandemic.

In particular, there continues to be considerable uncertainty regarding the financial impact of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

The projections are subject to major losses being within normal bounds, and to the income statement not being impacted by severe fluctuations in the currency or capital markets, significant changes in the tax environment, or other one-off effects.

New board division

In a separate announcement, Munich Re announced it has decided to establish an additional Board division. With effect from 1 January 2023, various primary insurance businesses of the Group that are part of the reinsurance segment will be managed together in a new Global Specialty Insurance (GSI) division.

The division will be headed by Michael Kerner, who was newly appointed to the Board of Management by the Supervisory Board effective 1 January 2023. ERGO is not affected by the changes.

The aim of this restructuring is to continue to support the very good business performance primary insurance has seen and to drive forward further expansion in specialty primary insurance business in order to become a powerful global player in this field and to leverage synergies, for example in the areas of IT infrastructure, marketing and services.

The new GSI division mainly comprises units from the Risk Solutions field, such as American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG), HSB, Munich Re Specialty Insurance, Munich Re Syndicate and Aerospace as well as Great Lakes Insurance (GLISE).

In the course of the integration, premium volume is projected to increase from around €7.5 billion at present to almost €10 billion by 2025, in line with the Ambition 2025 strategy.

Joachim Wenning (main picture), chair of the Board of Management, said: ”The expansion of less volatile fields of business, such as specialty primary insurance, is becoming increasingly important within our Group.

“The new Board division will help us to develop the full potential of this business. I wish Michael Kerner every success in this important task and look forward to our continued cooperation.”