Our Germany Insurance Report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Germany's insurance industry.
The German insurance market is huge. In non-life it is second in size only to the US and in life it is the world’s fifth largest market. Like all fully developed western markets it is relatively slow growing, but this market is so large that even small percentage increments are large in absolute terms.
Germany is home to a number of the key players in reinsurance. Munich Re is second only to Swiss Re is absolute size. Hannover Re is the second largest German reinsurer and the Berkshire Hathawayowned Cologne Re holds third place.
The industry is only moderately concentrated but there have been consolidation moves through merger and acquisition activity underway for several years. The largest company, Allianz, is massive by any measure but even Allianz could not be said to hold a dominant position in either life or non-life.
A distinctive feature of the German landscape is the degree of integration within the financial services industry. Germany pioneered the allfinanz concept and most of the main players are members of groups that include banking and investment management arms.
A number of the leading players are true global titans. More of their revenues come from markets outside Germany (even if some of that premium is written in Germany) and they will be looking to the emerging international markets, rather than their home market, for much of their future business development.
