MUNICH RE TO TARGET EARNINGS OF €2BN PLUS

Munich Re is to target annual earnings of around €2bn next year, the German reinsurer’s chief executive Joachim Wenning told Reuters this week. This would be significantly lower than the €3bn plus posted each year by the group between 2012 and 2015, and the €2.5bn reported last year. Wenning said natural catastrophes could raise rates and speed up profit growth, but low interest rates and price pressure are likely to hold back growth. “We won’t see big jumps back to previous earnings levels,” he told journalists on Wednesday. Munich Re expects only a “small profit” following large natural catastrophe losses in 2017.