Just in time for the economic boom of the 50er and 60s, the Haftpflichtverband was now also open to private persons, as insurance cover was no longer conditional upon membership of an employer's liability insurance association. A nation-wide, regional administration with lean executive structures was installed.
Up to then, the German government had prescribed standard rates. The Haftpflichtverband – still operating as a direct insurer without agents – had taken advantage of the boom in the 50er and 60s to gain a foothold in retail business, especially in motor insurance. This now put it in a position to calculate and quote its own motor premium rates. New branches of property insurance such as fire, glass and windstorm insurance were to round off the product range, but this was pursued very cautiously at first.
Today's Hannover Re was founded in Hannover. In 1966, the Gerling Group turned over its share in the reinsurer "Eisen- und Stahl Rückversicherung" to the Haftpflichtverband. This passed on a part of it to the Feuerschadenverband to strengthen the latter's ties to "Eisen und Stahl." In the same year, the Feuerschadenverband founded its own reinsurance company, "Aktiengesellschaft für Transport- und Rückversicherung," nowadays Hannover Re. Over the next two decades, these two reinsurance companies provided the Group with a strong backing and world-wide contacts.