Best Reinsurer for Expertise and Market Knowledge (GWP of more than $2bn) winner: Munich Re

Headquartered in Germany, the world’s largest reinsurer received a number of positive references about its global reach and knowledge base. A number of respondents added that they had personal experience with the firm, with one adding that “Munich Re are at the forefront of every major deal worldwide”.

Other positives included reference to the company’s extensive research and its quality, with one respondent commending the reinsurer for being “prepared to share its information”.

“Munich Re has a wide range of know-how in different classes of business,” said another respondent. The quality of the reinsurer’s staff were also praised as “excellent and stable”.

In the company’s 2013 results reinsurance CEO Torsten Jeworrek  said: “Munich Re has again succeeded in keeping its portfolio relatively stable. As ever, client proximity and solution orientation make us a valued partner. In a generally difficult economic environment, clients are seeking sophisticated reinsurance solutions for their capital and risk management.”

Munich Re board chairman Nikolaus von Bomhard added: “We have done our homework in recent years. Our capital base is more than solid, in reinsurance we are committed to solution-finding competence, and in primary insurance we are bringing a visionary concept to the German market with our new generation of life insurance products.”

Hot on the heels of Munich Re was Swiss Re, with a score of 7.73 out of 10. Established 1863, the reinsurance giant received acclaim from a large percentage of the participants.

The reinsurer was praised on the depth and breadth of its research, with one respondent adding that “they have the pulse of the market because of their extensive research”.

Its staff were praised as exceptionally talented and experienced across all areas. A respondent said that the “quality of the people and corporate culture that they have comes through the whole organisation. They all know what’s going on.”

Securing third place was German reinsurer Hannover Re, with a score of 7.49. The reinsurer was commended on its accuracy, speed and quantity of research.

One respondent said that “Hannover Re applies global experience and insight to a local/regional thought process and they bring engineering knowledge to every situation.”

SCOR and PartnerRe placed fourth and fifth, with 7.16 and 6.98 respectively. France-based SCOR received praise for its excellent knowledge, particularly within the French market, its presence in the market and its all-round service.

PartnerRe was commended on its multiline and global reach. One respondent praised its technical underwriters “who are able to offer highly expert reinsurance solutions”.

The companies in the shortlists seen here were selected based on the first stage of the research, conducted via phone interviews and open online polls. Respondents were asked to name three companies they regard highly in this category. They were then asked to give details of why they had chosen these firms.

The shortlist for this category reflects the companies mentioned the most frequently.

The researchers then approached the market a second time and, using this shortlist presented in a random order, asked respondents to score each company out of ten based on how they perceive the firm based on the criteria of this category. It is the results of this part of the survey that are shown here.

The score shows the average score out of ten that each company received in stage two of the survey.

The shortlist was presented to respondents in a random order.