Munich Re shakes up board in move towards ‘less volatile’ fields of business

Global reinsurance giant  Munich Re has restructured its board of management in a move to further expand in “less volatile” specialty primary insurance business as it looks to become a “powerful global player” in this field.

The company has formed a new board division, Global Specialty Insurance (GSI), that will manage numerous primary insurance businesses of the group that are part of its reinsurance segment.

The GSI will mainly comprise units from the Risk Solutions field, such as American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG), HSB, Munich Re Specialty Insurance, Munich Re Syndicate and Aerospace as well as Great Lakes Insurance (GLISE).

The new division will be headed by Michael Kerner, (Pictured) who was newly appointed to the board of management by the supervisory board effective January 1, 2023. Kerner joined Munich Re in December 2018 and has been responsible for Munich Re Specialty Insurance in North America. He has more than 30 years of experience in the global insurance industry.

The ERGO field of business will not be affected by the changes.

With this integration, Munich Re projects premium volume to increase from around €7.5 billion at present to almost €10 billion by 2025, in line with its Ambition 2025 strategy.

Munich Re explained that “the aim of this restructuring is to continue to support the very good business performance primary insurance has seen and to drive forward further expansion in specialty primary insurance business in order to become a powerful global player in this field and to leverage synergies, for example in the areas of IT infrastructure, marketing and services.”

Joachim Wenning, chair of the board of management, said: “The expansion of less volatile fields of business, such as specialty primary insurance, is becoming increasingly important within our Group. The new Board division will help us to develop the full potential of this business. I wish Michael Kerner every success in this important task and look forward to our continued cooperation.”

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