Munich Re CEO Von Bomhard officially hands over the reins to Wenning

After heading the group for over thirteen years in a row, chief executive Nikolaus von Bomhardhas has officially left Munich Re following the company's annual general meeting on April 26.

As announced earlier, Von Bomhard is replaced by Joachim Wenning, who also takes over as chairman of the board of management.

Meanwhile, the company said that its shareholders have agreed to raise the dividend to €8.60 per share (from €8.25 in the previous year), which means Munich Re is paying out over €1.3 billion to its shareholders.

Speaking at the annual general meeting, Von Bomhard stressed on the importance of innovation for Munich Re: "Our aim is to understand the opportunities and risks of new technologies earlier and better than the competition, and to develop new products and business models on the basis of this knowledge. I am proud of what Munich Re has initiated in terms of innovation across the whole group."

With regard to business performance in 2016, Von Bomhard said: "The consolidated result of €2.6 billion was in the upper half of our profit guidance. We generated these profits under difficult circumstances, without weakening the company’s core. So we are happy with the result."

"A provisional estimate of business performance in the first three months of the year indicates that to date we are well on track to reach our profit target for 2017," he added.

"Our dividend policy is sustainable and shareholder friendly. We have not reduced our dividend for almost 50 years."

Bernd Pischetsrieder, the chairman of the supervisory board, said: "Nikolaus von Bomhard took over at the helm of Munich Re at a difficult time, and successfully repositioned the Group’s strategy; this allowed Munich Re to survive the financial crisis unscathed."

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