Global reinsurer Munich Re achieved a strong net profit of €1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared with €1.1 billion a year earlier. Net profit for the quarter improved significantly to €1.5 billion, with technical results increasing by approximately €600 million to €2.7 billion due to lower major loss costs in its reinsurance business.
Munich Re reported today that insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued group-wide was €15.0 billion, down from €15.8 billion in the previous year, mainly due to unfavorable currency translation effects.
Currency results for the quarter were -€162 million compared to -€506 million last year. Currency results in Q1’25 were primarily attributable to a significant increase in exposure to the US dollar and its depreciation.
The reinsurer’s operating results increased from EUR 1.5 billion in Q1 2025 to EUR 2.2 billion in Q1 22, and share capital increased to EUR 34.6 billion at the end of March, compared with EUR 33.4 billion at the end of December 2025. Annualized return on equity for Q1 2026 was 19.7%, up from 13.3% in the previous year.
The strong performance in the company’s reinsurance business was driven by its property and casualty division, which posted a net profit of €841 million, up from €343 million last year. Across the reinsurance business, insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued decreased from €10.3 billion to €9.3 billion, total technical results increased from €1.5 billion to €2.1 billion, and operating results increased from €1.1 billion to €1.9 billion.
In P&C reinsurance, insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued fell from €4.9 billion in Q1’25 to €3.9 billion in Q1’26. The segment’s combined ratio increased from 83.9% to 66.8%, with a normalized combined ratio of 80.3%.
Munich Re’s property and casualty reinsurance major catastrophe losses were much lower in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period last year, reporting losses from events of just €108 million, compared with more than €1 billion during last year’s California wildfires. In the first quarter of 2026, major losses caused by disasters fell to 55 million euros from 757 million euros last year, and major man-made losses fell to 75 million euros from 251 million euros.
Life & Health (L&H) Reinsurance’s total technical result in the first quarter of 2026 was €500 million, down from €608 million in the previous year, as the segment’s net profit fell to €436 million from €501 million. Insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued increased to EUR 3.3 billion in Q1’26 compared to EUR 3.1 billion in Q1’25.
As for the global specialty insurance division, net profit increased significantly from 8 million euros to 202 million euros. Although insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued fell from €2.3 billion to €2.1 billion, the combined ratio increased from 95.5% to 83.7% due to lower significant loss costs.
Munich Re said that in its reinsurance business area, the total number of claims caused by the ongoing conflict in Iran is approximately 90 million euros, of which approximately 60 million euros belong to Global Specialty Insurance and 30 million euros belong to property and casualty reinsurance.
The major reinsurer also provided an update on April’s renewal experience, revealing that it had chosen to reduce its book size by 18.8% to €2 billion.
“Munich Re systematically chooses not to renew or underwrite business that does not meet the required price or terms and conditions expectations. Price declines have also led to lower transaction volumes,” the company said. “In April, business was mainly concentrated in Japan and India, accounting for approximately 11% of Munich Re’s total property casualty reinsurance business.”
Despite further price softening, Munich Re said it was able to offset higher loss estimates in some areas, adding that its portfolio generally maintained broadly favorable price levels despite a 3.1% price decline in the latest update.
“Looking ahead to the upcoming round of renewals in July, Munich Re expects that continued favorable price levels and improved terms and conditions will largely be maintained despite current market pressures,” the company added.
Going back to the Q1’26 results, looking at ERGO, the net result fell slightly from €241 million to €235 million as insurance revenue from insurance contracts issued increased from €5.6 billion to €5.7 billion. ERGO’s total technical results increased from 549 million euros in 1Q25 to 581 million euros in 1Q26, and operating results increased from 323 million euros to 328 million euros.
In addition to solid underwriting performance, Munich Re’s investment performance increased to €1.7 billion in Q1’26 from €1.3 billion in the previous year, mainly due to a significant improvement in fair value change performance. Investment results for the first quarter of 2026 showed that the return on the average market capitalization of the portfolio was 2.9%, up from 2.2% last year.
Looking ahead, Munich Re said its full-year profit guidance of 6.3 billion euros for 2026 remains unchanged.
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Buchanan commented: “Munich Re has made a good start to 2026 with a first quarter result of €1.7 billion. We are therefore well on track to achieve our full-year target of €6.3 billion. All business areas and segments reported encouraging developments, contributing to the Group’s strong net performance. 4 The small decline in property casualty reinsurance renewal prices in March does not mask the positive overall picture: prices remain favorable and the quality of our insurance portfolio remains high. “