Earning trust –
Corporate Responsibility at Munich Re
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Munich Re lives from the trust people place in us. As one of the world's leading insurers, we give our clients the promise that we will always fulfil the obligations we assume under insurance contracts. That is why it has always been our aim as a company to act responsibly and, in this sense, corporate responsibility has been and will remain an integral part of our Group strategy.
Unacceptable incidents at ERGO that recently came to light show that we need more than ever to uphold the value of responsible conduct. We do not tolerate the failure of individual staff members or intermediaries to live up to their responsibility within the company, nor any actions that place our company in a bad light and tarnish its reputation. These events have had the effect of redoubling ERGO's efforts to achieve greater transparency, strengthen its client focus and provide better advice and consulting in keeping with the motto, "To insure is to understand". Of course, all the necessary consequences are being taken in the organisation, for example in compliance management.
Following the "Lehman" crisis, controversies over the stability of national economies and the future of the euro have once again culminated in extensive volatility on the capital markets. Thanks to our risk and investment management's orientation toward sustainable earnings, we are in a good position. By signing the United Nations' "Principles for Responsible Investment" (PRI) in 2006, we committed ourselves to adhere strictly to those principles. For example, we make at least 80% of our investments in shares and corporate and government bonds that satisfy sustainability criteria. And in the coming years, we intend to invest two-and-a-half billion euros in renewable energies and corresponding new technologies.
In 2011 alone, we have been able to expand our "renewable energies" (wind and solar) portfolio by about 160 megawatts to a total generated output of about 300 million kilowatt hours. This is equivalent to the annual consumption of a small city consisting of about 80,000 households.
In our core business, too, we are accepting global challenges ranging from climate change to demographic trends, to combating poverty in developing countries. An an insurance company, we can help to deal with these challenges primarily by identifying, assessing and pointing out the associated risks early on, and then offering innovative insurance solutions for them wherever possible. Two relatively recent examples of this are new concepts for covering performance guarantees offered by manufacturers of wind farms and solar parks and the assumption of the exploration risk entailed in geothermal drilling operations. We are also actively working on formulating globally binding principles for the core business of insurance. Together with other major providers of financial services, we are taking part in the development of internationally recognised "Principles for Sustainable Insurance" under the auspices of the United Nations' Environment Programme.
We made our commitment to the values we hold dear a matter of public record in 2007 by joining the United Nations "Global Compact", the leading international standard for sustainable management. Integrated in our corporate responsibility portal, our annual progress report for the UN Global Compact documents our adherence to the ten principles set forth in this internationally recognised standard.
Open dialogue is important to us because it engenders understanding and trust. With this in mind, I hope you enjoy reading our portal.
Nikolaus von Bomhard
Chairman of the Board of Management
