Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München (ETR:MUV2) reported another record year for 2025, with management highlighting disciplined underwriting, active investment management and a diversified earnings base as key drivers of its performance. Speaking at the company’s media conference, Chief Executive Officer Christoph Jurecka said Munich Re exceeded its annual profit target for a fifth consecutive year and concluded its Ambition 2025 program by surpassing “every single financial and non-financial target.”
2025 results and shareholder returns
Munich Re posted net earnings of €6.1 billion, up almost 8% and slightly above its €6.0 billion target, according to CFO Andrew Buchanan. Management also said the result would have been higher if not for deliberate actions to strengthen the balance sheet and future earnings power, including additional reserve prudence and asset reallocations.
Buchanan said Munich Re’s Solvency II ratio rose to 298% at year-end 2025 (and “almost 300%” economically), reflecting strong operating performance and lower capital requirements. He added that the ratio already reflects the proposed 2025 dividend, while the impact of the announced buyback will be deducted in the first quarter.
Diversification and segment performance
Management emphasized that contributions from beyond the more cyclical property and casualty reinsurance business helped support capital returns. Jurecka said the combined contribution of Global Specialty Insurance (GSI), Life Reinsurance, and ERGO was “nearly as significant” as P&C reinsurance and “covers the dividend to a large extent.”
- Global Specialty Insurance: Jurecka said GSI delivered “excellent” performance in 2025, helped partly by below-average major losses but driven more by strong underlying performance. GSI has grown roughly 10% annually in recent years, and he expects a 5% to 9% compound annual growth rate going forward, prioritizing profitability. Buchanan reported a full-year combined ratio of 85.9% and said GSI generated around €560 million in net income.
- Life & Health Reinsurance: Jurecka said contractual service margin (CSM) exceeded €15 billion, up roughly 40% since its introduction in 2022, despite adverse currency effects. He noted that around 7% of CSM is released to earnings annually, creating a predictable income stream. Buchanan said the segment met guidance with a total technical result of €1.7 billion (reported as €1,715 million) and described new business generation as “very healthy,” while experience variances were “slightly negative overall” but within normal expectations.
- ERGO: Jurecka said ERGO met guidance with strong net earnings, and that its international operations continue to grow faster than Germany, accounting for 30% of revenue. He highlighted ERGO’s acquisition of NEXT Insurance as expanding its footprint into the U.S. SME market and said the unit is developing as expected. He also said ERGO Germany’s motor-focused technical improvements were reflected in a combined ratio of 89%. Buchanan noted a significant one-off item tied to Germany’s future corporate income tax rate reduction reduced reported net profit in ERGO Germany, while ERGO International benefited from a positive one-off effect related to the first-time consolidation of NEXT Insurance.
P&C reinsurance renewals and underwriting stance
Discussing January 1 renewals, Jurecka said the market had abundant capacity and “pricing” was the main battleground, resulting in a 2.5% risk-adjusted price decline in Munich Re’s portfolio. He said terms and conditions were largely unchanged and margins remained healthy, but Munich Re was prepared to walk away from business that failed to meet return requirements.
He added that Munich Re reduced renewed treaty volume by nearly 8%, with around three-quarters of the decline driven by proportional business, which he said has limited bottom-line impact. In Property XL—primarily natural catastrophe—prices declined 6%, and the company gave up a “meaningful amount” of business to maintain returns.
Reserving actions, major losses, and investment management
Buchanan characterized the 2025 earnings as high quality and said Munich Re used stronger-than-expected performance to bolster prudence in the fourth quarter. In P&C reinsurance, he described three reserve-related components affecting the combined ratio:
- Higher prudence in new business: the 2025 contract-year business was booked at the upper end of the best estimate range, adding roughly 1 percentage point of prudence and contributing to a normalized combined ratio of 80.1% for the full year, versus guidance that “may have been expected” at 79%.
- Lower prior-year reserve releases: reserve releases were 5.0% for the full year (and 1.8% in Q4), below the ~6% the group “usually” expects.
- Higher man-made losses and long-tail casualty uncertainty: Munich Re proactively addressed reserve uncertainties in several long-tail casualty lines, which also raised discounting effects.
In response to a question on man-made loss reserving, Buchanan cited examples of monitored loss complexes including PFAS (“forever chemicals”), sexual abuse and molestation, and asbestos. On major losses in P&C reinsurance during the fourth quarter, Jurecka said the largest event was Hurricane Melissa, with additional impacts from reserve strengthening in the man-made space.
On investments, management said capital markets continued to support results. Jurecka and Buchanan both noted that Munich Re deliberately accepted around €0.8 billion in fixed income disposal losses in 2025 to reposition toward higher-yielding assets, while fair value gains helped offset those losses. Buchanan reported a full-year investment return of 3.2%, above guidance of at least 3%.
2026 outlook and Ambition 2030 priorities
Munich Re confirmed its 2026 financial targets presented at its Capital Market Day in December, projecting net income of €6.3 billion—which management said would represent another record. Jurecka said expected earnings growth should be driven primarily by less cyclical segments, including Life & Health reinsurance, Global Specialty Insurance, ERGO, and investments, while P&C reinsurance is expected to see more muted development amid a competitive market environment.
Management also reiterated Ambition 2030 themes, including efficiency initiatives—where Jurecka cited artificial intelligence as a key lever—while noting that implementation details will evolve given how quickly the technology is changing. Munich Re also said it exceeded its Ambition 2025 non-financial targets, including reaching 40.5% women in leadership positions, and reiterated its longer-term aim of achieving net zero by 2050.
About Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München (ETR:MUV2)
Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München engages in the insurance and reinsurance businesses worldwide. It also offers life and health reinsurance solutions, such as digital underwriting and advanced analytics solutions, health insurance management system, financial market risks, financing, portfolio risk management, digitalized investment-linked solution, MIRA digital suite, MIRA POS, MIRApply insured and physician, claims risk adjustment, CLARA plus, data analytics, underwriting and claims, medical research, capital management, and health market.
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