Facts and Figures
The latest key figures of the Talanx Group reflect the results of the 2009 financial year. Details are also provided of the favorable ratings assigned to the Talanx Group by the highly reputed rating agency Standard & Poor’s.
The Talanx Group closed the 2009 financial year with a very good result, thereby building on the outstanding performance prior to the financial crisis.
As the Group's Chief Executive Officer Herbert K. Haas explained, comparisons with the previous year are not particularly helpful in order to evaluate the quality of the 2009 result; rather, a comparison with 2007 is more informative. Mr. Haas noted: "It cannot come as a surprise that profitability improved as we put the financial crisis behind us. To this extent, the rates of increase relative to the previous year cannot be considered an achievement. The correct perspective is, in fact, a comparison with the year prior to the crisis." And this is a level that the Talanx Group actually surpassed: Group net income came in more than 10% higher than the 2007 figure – which was in itself a good result. "Our goal", Mr. Haas continued, "of ranking among the five most profitable insurance groups in Europe was accomplished for 2009. What is more, at 12.8% we comfortably exceeded our minimum target of a return on equity 750 basis points above the risk-free interest rate. The very good result recorded for 2009 was, however, influenced by a number of positive non-recurring effects."
A focus of the Group's efforts in the current year will continue to be on restructuring its primary insurance business, a logical consequence of the Gerling integration. Now that the latter task has been successfully completed with an emphasis on speed, the Group is devoting itself to improving efficiency. In organizational terms, primary insurance business – which is to be split into three divisions going forward – will be geared to customer segments: Industrial Business, Retail Business Germany and Retail Business Foreign. The Reinsurance Division will remain unchanged. Furthermore, the Group is seeking to reduce complexity through a flexible, transparent corporate structure and to further reinforce the identification of its various divisions with the Group objectives. Ultimate management responsibility will be concentrated more heavily in the hands of Talanx AG, thereby better aligning the Group with the requirements of stakeholders, most notably customers and the capital market. The objective is to generate value on a sustainable basis through competitive structures, processes and products.
