Report by the independent auditor on a limited assurance engagement for the non-financial reporting

To Hannover Rück SE, Hannover

We have performed a limited assurance engagement on the combined non-financial information statement of Hannover Rück SE, Hannover (hereinafter the “Company”) according to §§ 289b und 315b Commercial Code (HGB), which is contained in the section of the combined management report entitled “Combined non-financial information statement” (hereinafter the “non-financial information statement”), for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018.

Responsibility of Management

The legal representatives of the Company are responsible for the preparation of the non-financial information statement in conformity with §§ 315b and 315c in conjunction with 289b to 289e Commercial Code (HGB).

This responsibility of Management involves selecting and applying appropriate methods for non-financial reporting as well as making assumptions and estimates regarding individual non-financial disclosures which are reasonable in the circumstances. Furthermore, the legal representatives are responsible for the internal controls that they have determined to be necessary in order to facilitate the preparation of a non-financial information statement that is free from material misstatements, whether due to fraud or error.

Independence and quality assurance on the part of the auditor

We are independent in conformity with the requirements of German professional standards and we fulfilled our other professional duties in accordance with these requirements.

Our audit firm applies the national statutory regulations and professional pronouncements – especially those of the Professional Code for Certified Accountants and Sworn Auditors (BS WP / vBP) as well as of Quality Assurance Standard 1 “Requirements for Quality Assurance in the Practice of Audit Firms” (IDW QS 1) issued by the Institute of Public Auditors in Germany (IDW) – and accordingly maintains an extensive quality assurance system that comprises documented rules and measures in relation to compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and pertinent statutory and other legal requirements.

Responsibility of the independent auditor

Our responsibility is to express a limited assurance conclusion on the disclosures in the non-financial information statement based on the assurance engagement that we have performed.

An assessment of external documentation sources or expert opinions, to which reference is made in the non-financial information statement, did not form part of our engagement.

We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised): “Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information”, issued by the IAASB. This standard requires that we plan and perform the assurance engagement in such a way as to obtain limited assurance about whether facts and circumstances have become known to us that lead us to believe that the company’s non-financial information statement for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 has not been prepared, in all material respects, in conformity with §§ 315b and 315c in conjunction with 289b to 289e Commercial Code (HGB). In a limited assurance engagement the assurance procedures carried out are less extensive than for a reasonable assurance engagement, and hence a substantially lower level of assurance is obtained. The assurance procedures are selected according to the auditor’s professional judgement.

In the context of our assurance engagement we performed, inter alia, the following assurance procedures and other activities:

• Gaining insight into the structure of the sustainability organisation and into the performance of the materiality analysis
• Questioning Management and relevant employees involved in the preparation of the non-financial information statement about the process of preparing the non-financial information statement, about the internal control system relating to this process and about the disclosures in the non-financial information statement
• Identifying probable risks of material misstatements in the non-financial information statement
• Analytical evaluation of disclosures in the non-financial information statement
• Reconciling disclosures with the corresponding data in the consolidated financial statement and combined management report
• Evaluating the presentation of the disclosures

Assurance conclusion

Based on the assurance procedures performed and the assurance evidence obtained, we are not aware of any facts or circumstances that lead us to believe that the Company’s non-financial information statement for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 has not been prepared, in all material respects, in conformity with §§ 315b and 315c in conjunction with 289b to 289e Commercial Code (HGB).

Intended use of the assurance report

We issue this report on the basis of the assurance engagement agreed with the Company. The assurance engagement has been performed for the purposes of the Company and the report is intended solely to inform the Company about the result of the assurance engagement.

The report is not intended to assist third parties in making (investment) decisions. Our responsibility is solely to the Company and we assume no responsibility, liability or other obligations towards third parties.

Frankfurt, 5 March 2019

PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft