Munich Re invested a total of €1.8bn in infrastructure, renewable energies and new technologies in 2014 and said it is planning further expansion in this area, subject to 'dependable investment conditions and appropriate returns', as it seeks to diversify its investments.
A spokesperson for Munich Re told Insurance Asset Risk that the company intends to raise that total to around €8bn over the next few years, with no set deadline for reaching that amount.
To place this figure in context, at the end of 2014 Munich Re held €235.8bn in investments, an increase on the €210.4bn it held at the end of 2013. Fixed-interest securities, loans and short-term fixed-income investments made up around 88% of the 2014 total.
Munich Re expects that market interest rates will remain very low overall in 2015, with correspondingly lower regular income from fixed-interest investments. It added that it expects a total investment result over the year of at least €7bn representing a return on investments of at least 3%.
In addition Munich Re is targeting growth in areas like Asia, which it said was 'booming' at the moment. It said that it was also working on pushing back the limits of insurability of risks that are not yet, or inadequately, covered, such as cyber risk, energy, supply chain and business interruption and protection of reputation.
The company also voiced criticism of the current low interest rate policies of the central banks. CFO Jörg Schneider said that these policies came at a huge cost to savers and all forms of old-age pensions.
