talanx group annual report 2011 en

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The Talanx Group Strategy Enterprise
management
The Talanx Group
Business activities
The Talanx Group operates as a multi-brand provider in the
insurance and financial services sector. At the end of 2011 we
employed around 18,300 staff worldwide. The Group is headed by
the Hannover-based financial and management holding company
Talanx AG, the sole owner of which is HDI V. a. G., a mutual insurance
company that can look back on more than a hundred years
of history.
The Group companies transact the insurance lines and classes
specified in the Ordinance Concerning the Reporting by Insurance
Undertakings to the Federal Insurance Supervisory Office (BerVersV),
in some cases in direct written insurance business and in some cases
in reinsurance business, with various areas of concentration: life
insurance, accident insurance, liability insurance, motor insurance,
aviation insurance (including space insurance), legal aid insurance,
fire insurance, burglary insurance, water damage insurance, plate
glass insurance, windstorm insurance, comprehensive householders
insurance, comprehensive homeowners insurance, hail insurance,
livestock insurance, engineering insurance, omnium insurance,
marine insurance, credit and surety business (reinsurance only),
extended coverage for fire and fire loss of profits insurance, business
interruption insurance, travel assistance insurance, aviation and
space liability insurance, other property insurance, other indemnity
insurance.
Talanx is represented by its own companies or branches on all
continents. In retail business Germany is one area of concentration,
while internationally the principal focus markets are the growth
regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and Latin America.
Industrial lines and especially reinsurance are also transacted in a
number of other markets, including for example North America,
South Africa, Australia and some Asian countries.
Talanx Group. Annual Report 2011
Research and
development
Markets and
general conditions
Group structure
Business development Assets and
shareholders’ equity
The year under review was the first year in which the new configuration
of our Group segments took full effect. Our organisation had
become highly complex and needed to be put on a more competitive
footing for the future to enable us to achieve our growth
and profitability targets. Functions which had previously been
performed in parallel in various parts of the Group have now been
concentrated at just a few sites.
In primary insurance we operate with three divisions that are
oriented towards specific client segments and each span the various
lines of business: Industrial Lines, Retail Germany and Retail
International. One member of the Talanx Board of Management
takes responsibility for each of these divisions.
Industrial Lines as a global player operates worldwide: it is largely
independent of third parties and has the resources to lead international
consortia. The Retail Germany segment interlinks the
German companies conducting retail business, across the traditional
dividing lines between life and property/casualty insurance.
The Retail International segment operates mainly in our strategic
target markets of Central and Eastern Europe including Turkey, and
Latin America. The bancassurance cooperation alliances outside of
Germany are also assigned to this segment.
The Reinsurance segments, led by Hannover Re, remain unchanged.
The Corporate Operations comprise – as a financial and management
holding without any business activities of its own – Talanx
AG, which performs primarily strategic duties, plus the two service
companies Talanx Service AG and Talanx Systeme AG, Talanx Reinsurance
Broker, and the Financial Services sector, which is primarily
concerned with managing the Group’s investments.