HDI Global Specialty enters German Fine Art and high net worth market with senior market hire

Dr Wiebe, who brings over 20 years’ insurance experience and is the former CFO at AXA ART, has been tasked with building a Fine Art and Lifestyle underwriting team based in Cologne/Köln.

HDI Global Specialty will initially launch an all-risks cover for art and collectors' items. They will be targeting private customers, galleries and museums. The insurer will also be offering policies to high net worth private customers, for valuable household contents and residential buildings as part of an all-risk cover. The new policies are being developed by HDI Global Specialty Underwriting Agency GmbH, ("HGSU") leveraging resources throughout the HDI organisation.

In the medium term, the new Fine Art team is expected to supplement art and Lifestyle insurance with additional services and increase the product range for wealthy private customers and internationalize its business activities. 

HDI Global Specialty CEO Ralph Beutter said: “Alexander has an enviable track record in the insurance industry in general and in Fine Art and high net worth insurance in particular. Having spent five years on the Board of AXA ART, his experience will no doubt prove invaluable as we establish ourselves as a significant player in the German market. The new team will complement the existing Fine Art underwriting operations in London, headed up by Nick Brett.”

Dr Wiebe added: “I am looking forward to using my years of experience and market knowledge in building a new team here in Cologne/Köln. HDI Global Specialty has made significant progress since its launch at the start of 2019, and I look forward to playing my part in its continued growth and success.”

The insurer expects to be trading in the German market with its first Fine Art risk solution within the first quarter of 2021.

Following approval by the supervisory authorities, HDI Global Specialty rolled-out operational activities on 1 January 2019.

HDI Global Specialty SE is a joint venture of Hannover Re and HDI Global SE, both being strong and established players in the insurance and reinsurance market. Combining the specialty activities of the Talanx Group into HDI Global Specialty SE, is an excellent platform for putting together cross-business segment expertise and network reach writing agency and specialty insurance business in lines including such as errors & omissions liability insurance, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O), legal expenses insurance, sports and entertainment, aviation, offshore energy and animal insurance.

Specialist local teams are highly qualified to give quick responses and informed support to the client’s local operations, specifically their special, unusual or difficult insurance needs.

As an industrial lines insurer, HDI Global SE (HDI) meets the needs of SMEs, industrial companies and corporate customers with insurance solutions that are specifically tailored to their requirements. In addition to HDI's prominent position in the German and broader European market, the company also has operations in more than 150 countries through foreign branch offices, subsidiary and peer companies, and network partners. The company is thus able to offer its customers local policies for their global operations, which ensure that the established service and insurance protection is extended for all covered risks worldwide.

HDI Global SE is a company in the Talanx Group’s Industrial Lines Division. Approx. 3,700 employees in this division generated gross written premiums of approx. EUR 6.2 billion in the year 2019. The rating agency Standard & Poor’s has given the Talanx Primary Group a financial strength rating of A+/stable (strong). Talanx AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the SDAX as well as on the stock exchanges in Hannover and Warsaw (ISIN: DE000TLX1005, German Securities Code: TLX100, Polish Securities Code: TNX).

Hannover Re, with gross premium of more than EUR 22 billion in 2019, is the third-largest reinsurer in the world. It transacts all lines of property & casualty and life & health reinsurance and is present on all continents with around 3,300 staff. Established in 1966, the Hannover Re Group today has a network of more than 140 subsidiaries, branches and representative offices worldwide. The Group's German business is written by the subsidiary E+S Rück. The rating agencies most relevant to the insurance industry have awarded both Hannover Re and E+S Rück outstanding financial strength ratings: Standard & Poor's AA-"Very Strong" and A.M. Best A+ "Superior".

This news release may include forward-looking statements which are based on certain assumptions, expectations and opinions of the management of Talanx AG and/or HDI Global Specialty SE. These statements are, therefore, subject to certain known or unknown risks and uncertainties. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond Talanx AG’s and/or HDI Global Specialty SE’s control, affect our business activities, business strategy, results, performance and achievements. Should one or more of these factors or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results, performance or achievements of Talanx AG and/or HDI Global Specialty SE may vary materially from those expressed or implied in the relevant forward-looking statement. Talanx AG and HDI Global Specialty SE do not guarantee that the assumptions under-lying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor do Talanx AG and/or HDI Global Specialty SE accept any responsibility for the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. Talanx AG and HDI Global Specialty SE neither intend, nor assume any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.