Munich Re, one of the four largest reinsurance companies in Europe, targeted portfolio optimization and selective growth when it renewed insurance on January 1, 2026. Its books shrank by 7.8% year-on-year. However, despite the weak environment, Christoph Jurecka, chief executive officer (CEO) of the reinsurance company, still sees ample growth opportunities.
This morning, Munich Re reported a very strong set of results for the 2025 financial year, including a net result of more than €6.1 billion, strong life and health reinsurance results and a combined property and casualty reinsurance ratio of 73.5% (80.1% on a normalized basis).
The reinsurer also provided some details on key renewal experience in January, with prices falling overall by 2.5% as underwriting volumes fell to €13.7 billion. On 1.1, 2026, the airline deliberately reduced its casualty and property ratio operations, choosing to grow selectively in areas that met its requirements.
Munich Re said this morning that despite the current difficult situation, the price level of its investment portfolio remains good, and looking forward to April, it expects the market environment to basically maintain attractive price levels and improving terms and conditions.
Company executives recently discussed 2025 results and other market trends on a conference call with analysts and provided an outlook for the 2026 reinsurance renewal period, specifically whether Munich Re expects to be able to achieve volume growth across its business lines during the remainder of the year.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of opportunity,” Jureka said. “We were able to renew a lot of our business at attractive prices and the market generally remains in good shape. So if you look at those cuts, it’s true that in basically all areas of our business we’re able to do business at attractive prices and on attractive terms and conditions.”
He went on to say that even in Munich Re’s significantly reduced proportion space, there are still opportunities for growth, which the company has capitalized on in some of its casualty lines in Europe and Latin America.
“However, I would still like to emphasize again that the market generally remains in an attractive area, so there are plenty of opportunities.”