Sustainability Report 2015
Product responsibility
The Hannover Re Group transacts all lines of property & casualty and life & health reinsurance worldwide. Our products and services are optimally tailored to the individual requirements of our clients and the specific conditions of each market. In this context, our high ethical and moral standards are just as applicable to our products and services as they are to our dealings with our customers.
The overarching guideline for the sustainable design of our products and services is our Sustainability Strategy 2015-2017, which has been approved by the full Executive Board. In 2015 we already took the first steps towards achieving the goals that we have set ourselves: in the growing microinsurance market Hannover Re intensified its collaboration with primary insurers in Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia. We are encouraging the development of products in response to climate change, such as weather insurance and the coverage of energy saving warranties, by extending these products to include other European countries. We are also taking an active part in the development of index-based disaster finance concepts that guarantee rapid financial assistance for countries in South America and Asia in the event of natural catastrophes.
In designing our range of products and services we apply insights gained from our research activities on topics such as the turnaround in energy policy, climate change, new mobility and shifting demographics in order to be able to identify emerging risks and devise specific solutions at an early stage. A Group-wide risk management system enables Hannover Re to maintain a dedicated focus on its potential risks. Social and environmental risks are similarly taken into account as part of the analysis of emerging risks. Furthermore, our subsidiary E+S Rück also offers our customers – i.e. primary insurers – various services and applications for the purpose of risk analysis.
Along with our product portfolio we have also stayed focused on our investment portfolio, which is managed with the same sense of responsibility. Hannover Re's investment policy is geared to the generation of stable and risk-commensurate returns while at the same time safeguarding liquidity and solvency. In addition, we incorporate ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria into our investment policy. Not only that, the existing ESG Investment Policy was refined in 2016 and supplemented with a best-in-class investment approach. A designated ESG officer on the investment team ensures that ESG criteria are applied and that the policy is followed.
Hannover Re is engaged primarily in business-to-business activities and maintains close contacts with its customers – either directly through its staff or indirectly through reinsurance brokers. By means of conferences that we hold on specific topics, seminars, business trips and our presence at trade fairs and specialist gatherings, we enable clients to share in our insights and thereby consolidate our customer relationships. Further examples of our efforts to promote dialogue are the newsletter "ReCent Medical News" launched in 2014 to report on medical research with a bearing on insurance and the new "Building Bridges" seminar concept for property and casualty reinsurance.
We measure the satisfaction of our clients at regular intervals and are gratified by the positive outcome of the customer surveys conducted in the year under review. Various awards and distinctions, including for example the crowning of our company as "Reinsurance Company of the Year" by the highly regarded UK insurance magazine "Reactions", testify to our outstanding performance.