44. Reinsurance

The Group Management Board determines, directly and indirectly, the strategic contents of reinsurance policy with its decisions regarding risk and capital policy. The following principles can be derived to structure the purchasing of external reinsurance:

Reinsurance structures support the continuous optimisation of the required risk capital and the management of the use of this risk capital. Great importance is attached to the maximum use of diversification effects. Decisions regarding all reinsurance business ceded are taken with special consideration of their effects on the required risk capital. Continuous analysis of reinsurance purchasing for efficiency characteristics is an essential component of internal risk management processes.

UNIQA Re AG in Zurich, Switzerland, is responsible for the operational implementation of these tasks. It is responsible for and guarantees the implementation of reinsurance policies issued by the Group Management Board. It is responsible for issuing Group-wide guidelines governing all activities, organisation and questions regarding internal and external reinsurance relationships. UNIQA Re AG is available to all Group companies as the risk carrier for their reinsurance needs. Naturally, internal risk transfers are subject to the same requirements and valuation processes in terms of efficiency measurement, risk capital optimisation and diversification as retrocessions to external reinsurance partners.

The assessment of the exposure of the portfolios assumed by the group companies is of central importance. Periodic risk assessments have been performed for years in the interest of a value-based management of the capital commitment. Extensive data are used to assess risk capital requirements for affected units. Reinsurance programmes are consistently structured systematically in accordance with their influence on the cedent’s risk situation.

For the property and casualty insurer, promises of performance for protection against losses resulting from natural hazards frequently represent the greatest stress on risk capital by far due to the volatile nature of such claims and the conceivable amount of catastrophic damages. UNIQA has set up a specialised unit in order to deal with this problem. Exposure is constantly monitored and evaluated at the country and Group levels in cooperation with internal and external authorities. UNIQA substantially eases the pressure on its risk capital through the targeted utilisation of all applicable diversification effects and the launching of a highly efficient retrocession programme.

UNIQA Re AG has assumed almost all of the UNIQA Group’s required reinsurance business ceded in the reporting period. Only in the life insurance line was a portion of the necessary cessions given directly to external reinsurance partners. The Group’s retrocessions in the non-life insurance line were carried out on a non-proportional basis. The Group assumes reasonable deductibles in the affected programmes based on risk and value-based approaches.