Our Purpose

Established by customers to think like customers: we have been different to our competitors ever since we were founded as a mutual insurance association back in 1903. Our culture of togetherness and our guiding principles of transparency, consistency and cooperation make us unique even today.

Unlike other large insurers, Talanx has a decentralised management structure. The individual companies and divisions within the Group enjoy a considerable degree of entrepreneurial freedom.

Our mindset and our actions are not driven by short-term capital market considerations, but are rooted in the long-term security offered by our majority shareholder, HDI V.a.G.

People from all over the world work for us all over the world – in Europe, the United States, South America and Asia. And they contribute their own very different cultural backgrounds, life histories and experiences. We believe that this diversity makes us richer, because cooperation and dialogue produce completely new ideas that move us all forward. We value people – after all, they make the difference.

We grow our profits by being an agile, learning organisation that never loses sight of its customers. Our staff see constant change as an opportunity – a chance to advance their own and the Company’s development.

Responsible, sustainable action is second nature to us. Our entire organisation walks the talk in all three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.

Our German operations have had a net-zero carbon footprint since 2019. We also invest heavily in renewable energy sources as an investor for our customers. And on the underwriting side, we shall have exited coal-based risks completely by 2038. What is more, as a company we have committed to seven key Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations: quality education, gender equality, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, responsible consumption and climate action.

Risk is our business – which is why it’s all the more important to have a sound basis for what we do. Our intelligent diversification across different brands, products and markets, gives us a solid, future-proof foundation. We offer all forms of protection apart from health insurance – from retail insurance and industrial lines down to reinsurance. Our broad international positioning minimises regional risks: a large part of our business is conducted outside Germany.

Of course, it’s always best if the unexpected doesn’t happen. But if it does, it’s good to be insured with us – because we know what needs to be done and we get it done, too. Together, we turned 2,731,862 insurance claims into 2,731,862 problems solved.

We made total insurance payments of almost EUR 26.46 billion in the course of the year. To both individuals and corporate customers. And in both primary insurance and reinsurance. This shows that, when the chips are down, we focus on really helping and on rising to our responsibility, rather than merely focusing on costs.

Talanx brings together people with a wide range of skills, experience and qualifications from more than 100 professions. Our Group employs not just certified insurance specialists, business administrators and mathematicians, but also engineers, chemists and even ships’ captains. Together, they develop creative, innovative solutions that generate real value added for our customers. Our flexible mobile working model, dynamic workspaces at our locations and versatile professional development offerings are key elements of our joint journey towards the new normal.

Talanx is the harmonious interaction of 11 dedicated insurance and reinsurance brands. Together, we offer almost all types of insurance. We cover all conceivable risks for individuals and companies alike, in their personal lives and above all in the business world.

More and more people and companies around the world are placing their trust in us. We do roughly 80% of our business in foreign markets. With gross premium income of more than EUR 50 billion a year, we are the third-largest German insurance group and one of the largest in Europe.

Our business growth is based on a clear strategy with four cornerstones:

We focus our strategy in the individual divisions

Our divisions (Industrial Lines, Retail Germany, Retail International and Reinsurance) improve their performance by pursuing ambitious goals and programmes for the future. These lead to higher profit transfers to Talanx.

We continuously improve our capital management

We are continuing to strengthen our robust capital position and personnel base. At the same time, we are investing in innovative segments through takeovers or by taking stakes in promising start-ups.

We are accelerating the digital transformation process

We systematically leverage the opportunities offered by digitalisation. We are continuously modernising our IT systems and stepping up our use of data analytics. What is more, we are building ecosystems with partners that sell insurance products and provide services.

Our business contributes to a sustainable future

Our business activities as an insurance company, help steer society as a whole. One way we are ensuring this is by integrating our sustainability strategy with our business strategy.

By its very nature, the insurance business is focused on an unknown future. However, the increased use of data analytics means our predictions are improving all the time. Not only does this help us evaluate risks more precisely, going forward, it will allow us to predict what might happen – and how it can be avoided – even more precisely.

As a result, our task profile is shifting away from the traditional “repair and reimburse” approach and towards “predict and prevent”. The goal is to prevent the unexpected where possible using artificial intelligence. This means our business model is changing, too. Today, we earn 100% of our money from insurance. In the future, we will provide services as well. These will allow us to offer even better support with losses, or even stop them happening in the first place and will put our business on an even broader footing.