Southeast Asia

Hannover Re’s main markets in Southeast Asia are Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Our portfolio here, which we further diversified in the year under review, is composed predominantly of property business. Lines such as personal accident, crop and livestock insurance as well as structured reinsurance products were systematically expanded. We also continued to engage in the field of microinsurance in the year under review. These products enable even low-income individuals to purchase insurance protection.

Given the greater importance attached to risk-based models in Malaysia, we observed a surge in demand in proportional motor business – both in traditional reinsurance and in terms of structured solutions. We are supporting our clients here with an eye to the increased capital requirements and in the year under review we wrote the largest contract to date – measured by premium volume – in the region.

It remains the case that rates in the primary insurance sector are scarcely adequate in Southeast Asian markets, and hence reinsurance conditions also deteriorated in 2010 relative to the previous year.

Our premium volume grew substantially in the year under review.

In terms of major losses, the region of Southeast Asia came under strain in 2010. Particularly devastating for the local population were the flood events in Pakistan. What is more, losses also resulted from the political unrest in Thailand. Overall, the major loss expenditure in Southeast Asia remained within the low double-digit million euro range.