Capital resources
Our necessary equity resources are determined according to the requirements of our internal capital model, solvency regulations, the rating agencies' requirements for our target rating and the expectations of our clients and shareholders. Above and beyond this, we maintain an equity cushion in order to be able to act on new business opportunities at any time. Hannover Re is thus well capitalised and our available capital exceeds the required capital, both from the economic and the regulatory perspective.
Hannover Re calculates the required risk capital as the Value at Risk (VaR) of the economic change in value over a period of one year with a confidence level of 99.97%. This reflects the goal of not exceeding a one-year ruin probability of 0.03%. The internal target capitalisation of the Hannover Re Group is therefore significantly higher than the confidence level of 99.5% required under Solvency II. The solvency ratio calculated in accordance with Solvency II stood at 269% as at 31 December 2023. Hannover Re is well diversified in every risk category and has a balanced risk profile.
Cost of capital and return on equity
Hannover Re uses various equity substitutes to optimise the cost of capital. We make use of subordinated bonds (hybrid capital), retrocessions and securitisations of reinsurance risks on the capital market. Thanks to efficient capital management, Hannover Re's weighted cost of capital ranks among the lowest and its return on equity among the best in the industry: The average return on equity over the last 10 years is well in the double-digit range.
| Year | Actual in % |
|---|---|
| 2014* | 14.7 |
| 2015* | 14.7 |
| 2016* | 13.7 |
| 2017* | 10.9 |
| 2018* | 12.2 |
| 2019* | 13.3 |
| 2020* | 8.2 |
| 2021* | 10.8 |
| 2022* | 14.1 |
| 2023 | 19.0 |
| Average return on equity 2014 - 2023 | 13.2 |
*2014-2022: IFRS 4
Investment policy
Despite the protracted low interest rate environment Hannover Re pursues a prudent investment policy that emphasises risk diversification: 85% of the assets under own management are invested in fixed-income securities, 7% in real estate, 3% in equities, 2% in cash and short term investments and 3% in other investments. When it comes to investing the capital entrusted to us, we incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into our investment policy. This is based on the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact. The investments are reviewed every six months for compliance with these ESG standards. We have been a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Investments (PRI) since 2020.
Hannover Re’s investment policy continues to be guided by the following core principles:
- generation of stable and risk-commensurate returns while at the same time maintaining the high quality standard of the portfolio
- ensuring the liquidity and solvency of Hannover Re at all times
- high diversification of risks
- limitation of currency exposures and maturity risks through matching currencies and maturities.