Press release

• Munich Re – New Munich Re subsidiary in Moscow – First foreign company to receive a licence to conduct life reinsurance business 
  
  
• Huge potential for developing pension provision in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Munich Re Life Reinsurance Eastern Europe/Central Asia (Munich Re Life E.E.C.A.) has received a licence from the Russian Federal Service for Insurance Supervision to conduct life reinsurance business in the CIS. Moody’s Investors Service has awarded it an A2 rating, which is very good for a start-up company. Munich Re Life E.E.C.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Munich Re, is now responsible for all of the Group’s life reinsurance business in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), specifically in Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Heading the company is Dmitri Demidov, a long-time employee of Munich Re in the life reinsurance sector.

The economy in Russia and most of the other CIS states is marked by a strong dynamic which, together with the existing pent-up demand for pension products, translates into high growth levels in life insurance business. The market is likely to profit also in the coming years from the ongoing economic upturn.

According to Dr. Nikolaus von Bomhard, Chairman of Munich Re’s Board of Management: "We seek to take advantage of the highly promising economic situation in the CIS States to further grow our life reinsurance business organically and profitably. Being able to draw on our long tradition of good and close relationships with the Russian market will be a help in this respect."

In the past four years, life insurers in the CIS States have recorded annual premium growth of over 100%. In life reinsurance the picture has been similar. Munich Re estimates that it is the largest reinsurer in this market. Dr. Wolfgang Strassl, member of the Board of Management of Munich Re responsible among other things for life reinsurance business stated: "Our success here is due to many years of intensive cooperation with our clients in Russia and the neighbouring states".

Shortly after the political turnaround in 1989, Munich Re in 1991 became the first foreign reinsurer to open a representation office in Moscow. Since then, it has played an active role in the markets of the CIS States, enjoying reinsurance relations with all of the major market players. Munich Re’s commitment in Russia is a key part of its more than 125-year history: in 1885, founder Carl von Thieme set up the company’s first foreign office in St. Petersburg.

By establishing Munich Re Life E.E.C.A., the first foreign life reinsurance undertaking in the CIS, Munich Re seeks to consolidate its outstanding position in the market and to intensify contacts with clients and authorities. With a local subsidiary, Munich Re can for the first time offer reinsurance solutions on a rouble basis. It thus fulfils all of the necessary conditions for also offering professional support to life insurance providers that are new to the market.

Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft
gez. Dr. Strassl           gez. Küppers