Interview: Manfred Dennler, Novae Re


Next stop: Zurich


Manfred Dennler, head of property per risk at Novae Re, charts the company’s growth in Zurich, along with a look at why the city has become such a popular destination for reinsurance buyers.


buyers. The reason is simple: to date, 32 reinsurance companies / branches have opened in the city, turning it into the most important reinsurance hub in Europe. Although historically the market in Zurich


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was dominated by a few larger players, the new influx of companies means that there is now a wide choice of reinsurers of all shapes and sizes for buyers to choose from. Then there is Switzerland’s geographical position to consider: sat at the very heart of Europe, surrounded by EU countries, making it very easy to visit neighbouring countries – or indeed the rest of world. However despite this close proximity to the


rest of Europe, Zurich still retains a great deal of independence and character, typified by the Swiss German spoken locally (although you will also often hear English spoken on the streets). Zurich’s reputation as a financial and now


reinsurance centre also means that there is steady stream of business available for those who set up in the city. These factors, along with the fact that most


of the initial Novae Re team members already lived and worked in the city prior to joining the


ver recent years, Zurich has become a destination of choice for reinsurance


26.10.11 WEDNESDAY


Manfred Dennler, head of property per risk at Novae Re


its team’s strong network to attract continental European reinsurance business to the Novae Group, the company also looks to take advan- tage of its team’s global contacts and writes a geographically and class-wise well diversified


Zurich’s reputation as a financial and now reinsurance centre also means that there is steady stream of business available for those who set up in the city.


company, made Zurich strategically the best lo- cation for setting up Novae Re. The formation of Novae Re in the middle


of a soft market with the opening of the Novae Re office in Zurich in September 2009 was con- sidered to be a gutsy move by many. Lately other reinsurers have followed Novae


Re’s example and opened an office in Zurich. However, unlike Novae Re, most of these new entrants concentrate on writing a purely conti- nental European reinsurance book out of their Zurich office. Whilst it is still an important part of the business plan of Novae Re to take advantage of


worldwide reinsurance account out of its Zu- rich office. Presently there is widespread agreement


that there is a systemic risk for insurance com- panies that reinsure with a handful of reinsur- ance companies only. This systemic risk could be reduced by having a broader panel of sol- idly rated reinsurers participating in the rein- surance arrangements of insurance companies. Therefore it is little surprise that the forma-


tion of a multi-line reinsurance provider such as Novae Re - with its broad product offering, Lloyd’s security and experienced underwriting and management teams - received such a very


10 | INTELLIGENT INSURER —BADEN-BADEN TODAY | Wednesday October 26 2010


warm welcome by reinsurance buyers looking for solid additional capacity. And so the story of Novae Re continues.


The company, with its team in Zurich, along with the now fully integrated team in London, is well positioned for future success. The treaty account that Novae Re writes out of Zurich includes international


property catastrophe,


property per risk, engineering, agriculture and (since October 2010) credit & surety lines. Novae Re operates from two locations: the


main hub in Zurich and a second hub in Lon- don at the Novae Group’s head office, where the Novae Re team writes motor & liability XL, US property catastrophe, marine and aviation treaty reinsurance. Novae Re is part of Lloyd’s Syndicate 2007 that is regulated by the FSA (Fi- nancial Service Authority) and enjoys the over- all A (A.M. Best) and A+ (Standard & Poor’s, Fitch) Lloyd’s rating. Novae Re looks forward to providing solid


support across its product offering to existing and new clients around the world seeking ex- pertise and diversity.


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