The Swiss reinsurer does not “until further notice accept new business with Russian and Belarusian clients (whether under the imposition of sanctions or not)”.
Several major European insurers have announced that they are reducing their presence in Russia, like the many multinationals that have distanced themselves from Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine.
German reinsurance giant Munich Re said Wednesday that its “existing contracts in Russia and Belarus will not be renewed,” in a statement posted on its website.
Likewise, the Munich man says he has “stopped” engaging in “new business” and is not going to launch any capital investments in the region.
“We expressly support the sanctions” initiated by Western countries, knowing that “these will also not remain without consequences for our national economies”, declared the chairman of the management board of Munich Re, Joachim Wenning.
Munich Re does not foresee a “significant direct impact on business” due to a marginal presence in Russia, it said in an earlier statement.
Its Swiss competitor Swiss Re also announced that it is “until further notice not accepting new business with Russian and Belarusian customers (whether sanctioned or not), and that it is “not renewing either existing business with Russian customers,” according to a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday.
The insurer Allianz had already announced “not to underwrite new insurance business in Russia nor to invest there for its own account”, according to a message on its site.
Its subsidiaries “no longer write new business in Russia” and are also working to “orderly reduce their exposure to the Russian market”.
This means that current contracts will continue to be served and that requests from customers wishing to renew them will be studied on a case-by-case basis.
The Bavarian giant has exposure to Russia that is limited to 0.3% of a total of nearly 810 billion euros in insured assets worldwide, according to a presentation.
For its first-quarter 2022 financials, it might incur 300 million euros in write-downs on all of its investments in Russia, following participation from customers with life insurance, Berenberg analysts estimate.
