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Product responsibility
We transact 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. The ethical and moral standards that we set for our own actions also make themselves felt in our products and services and in our dealings with customers.
In our Sustainability Strategy 2015 – 2017 we set ourselves targets for the sustainable design of our products and services as well. In 2015 we already took the first steps towards achievement of these goals: in the growing microinsurance market we intensified our 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, and we are extending the energy saving warranty solutions available in Germany 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. We pressed ahead with these activities in 2016 and transferred them to other countries where possible. For example, we also support initiatives in Malaysia, where government-assisted insurance covers for accident and disability risks are to be expanded.
In designing our range of products and services we apply insights gained from our research activities on topics such as the turnaround in German energy policy, climate change, new mobility and shifting demographics in order to be able to identify emerging risks and devise specific insurance solutions at an early stage. A Group-wide risk management system enables us to maintain a dedicated focus on our potential risks. Social and environmental risks are similarly taken into account in this context. Furthermore, our subsidiary
Along with our insurance solutions, our investments are also part of our focus on sustainable product responsibility. Our investment policy is geared to the generation of stable and risk-commensurate returns while at the same time safeguarding liquidity and solvency at all times. In addition, we incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance criteria (ESG criteria) into our investment policy. In the current financial year we have devoted special effort to the implementation of our best-in-class investment approach. A designated ESG officer on the investment team ensures that ESG criteria are developed and applied and that the policy is followed.
We are engaged primarily in business-to-business activities and maintain close contacts with our customers – either directly through our 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 findings with a bearing on insurance and the "Building Bridges" seminar concept for property and casualty reinsurance. In the context of our company's drive towards digitalisation we are currently working on the development of a digital platform on the life insurance side. This involves a B2B platform, through which we envisage it will be possible not only for us to sell own reinsurance solutions and services but also, going forward, for third-party providers to offer their own innovative insurance products. The platform is currently still in the test phase and has so far only been used for purposes of internal information exchange.
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 accomplishments.