Germany
The domestic market is served by our subsidiary E+S Rück. As the dedicated reinsurer for the German market, the company has for decades been a sought-after partner thanks to its excellent financial standing, highly developed customer orientation and the continuity of its business relationships. E+S Rück continues to rank second in Germany, the second-largest non-life reinsurance market in the world.
In view of the competitive climate prevailing on the German primary insurance market, we expanded our portfolio very selectively. Overall, though, the favourable claims situation enabled us to generate a satisfactory result.
Fierce competition continued to be the hallmark of the primary sector - both in industrial lines and private customer insurance. In the latter case this was especially true of motor business, an important line for our company. Compared to the original market, however, the climate on the reinsurance side was more favourable, i.e. rates and conditions continued to be broadly adequate. Although softening tendencies made themselves felt here too, we were able to act on attractive business opportunities in the year under review.
In motor liability insurance the premium erosion - at around 2% - took a more favourable turn than had been initially anticipated. With the claims frequency also falling, profitability proved to be more than adequate. Results in motor own damage insurance, on the other hand, were adversely impacted by the hailstorm events "Hilal" and "Naruporn". Our losses from these two events amounted to EUR 55.2 million and EUR 12.0 million respectively. Winter storm "Emma" also caused severe damage in Germany; the net strain from this event totalled EUR 13.3 million.
Industrial property reinsurance lines suffered under premium reductions and increased losses in the year under review. Overall, though, a break-even result was achieved. Homeowners' comprehensive, which had incurred heavy strains in 2007 from winter storm "Kyrill", performed considerably better than in the previous year. Terms and conditions were also gratifying in casualty insurance, and here too we were able to post a good result.
+++ E+S Rück expands market share in Germany +++
Personal accident insurance, which remains one of our target lines, continued to develop favourably. In addition to the traditional assumption of risks in treaty and facultative reinsurance, our clients again benefited from our product innovations in the year under review; by way of example, we may cite here the combined personal accident annuity product designed by our company that also provides benefits in case of severe illnesses. Furthermore, we complemented our range of services in the year under review through our cooperation with external providers.
By way of increased treaty shares under existing accounts and new customer relationships we were able to further enlarge our market share in the year under review and extend our position as one of the leading reinsurers in the profitable German market.
The directive adopted by the EU on finite reinsurance was implemented into national law in 2008 and incorporated into the Insurance Supervision Act. Structured products are explicitly recognised under these provisions and their treatment is governed by binding rules. Aided by intensive marketing efforts we further raised our profile in this sector, as a consequence of which ceding companies are increasingly including our products in their reinsurance planning. All in all, we were satisfied with the development of our business with structured products in Germany.
Percentage breakdown of gross written premium in Germany by line of business
