Research and development

Exploring market trends and developing innovative products are tasks assigned to the individual market units at Hannover Re. In addition, business opportunities and innovations that cut across markets and segments are coordinated by the “Regulatory Affairs and Innovation” team and pursued by means of interdisciplinary projects in which various market and service units participate. In this way, we develop products and solutions that deliver value added both for Hannover Re and for our clients. By way of example, our move to give capital market players direct access to insurance risks as far back as the mid-1990s through our “K” transactions puts us among the industry pioneers. The intervening years have seen the subsequent evolution of a market for so-called insurance- linked securities, which is one of the fastest growing markets in the insurance sector. Another example of Hannover Re’s development activities is our own internal model for risk management under Solvency II that caters to the requirements of various stakeholders (regulators, rating agencies, capital providers) and was one of the first in Europe to be approved by a national financial regulator (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority = BaFin). Not only that, through our active involvement and the provision of financial assistance we support scientific initiatives geared to developing products, solutions or markets that will be crucial success factors going forward in the viability of any reinsurance undertaking.

Reinsurance business is founded on the comprehensive understanding and active management of risks. Our specialists therefore continuously analyse known risks with an eye to changes in their structure and probability of occurrence, while at the same time focusing on the early detection of newly emerging risks and working to provide our clients with appropriate solutions tailored to their needs. Above and beyond this, Hannover Re makes systematic efforts to identify new business opportunities in order to achieve sustainable growth and strengthen the profitable development of the company (see Opportunity report).