Ladies and Gentleman,

In 2009 we achieved our goal of playing in the quintet of Europe’s five most profitable insurance groups. Not only that, we comfortably surpassed our minimum target of generating a return on equity 750 basis points above the risk-free interest rate.

If we cast a glance at the Talanx Group’s net profit for 2009, we can see that these are not the only two pieces of good news to report. All our key figures are thoroughly respectable: we posted gains in gross premium, investment income, EBIT and Group net income.

Yet with the most far-reaching and severe financial crisis behind us, it was only to be expected that profitability would pick up. To this extent, the rates of increase year-on-year are not an especially notable achievement, and comparisons with 2008 are therefore not particularly revealing. The right approach is to compare the 2009 result with the pre-crisis figure. And this is a level that we actually surpassed: Group net income came in higher than in 2007 – and that in itself was a good year. Thus we have the good – and yet at the same time – bad news: the crisis cost our Group a year.

Nevertheless, the fact that Talanx put the crisis behind it so quickly and relatively unscathed should be viewed in an unreservedly positive light. It remains the case that the Talanx Group enjoys very robust financial strength. What are the reasons for this?

We have set the right tone with our risk provision: the Group is built on a solid foundation and is so stable that it can withstand even major tremors undamaged. Although this assertion does not allow us to rest in our efforts to make the Group even more quake-proof, it does fill us with confidence in our ability to tackle and master the tasks that still lie ahead. Financial stability, in other words a company’s security, and flexibility, i.e. its capacity to adapt to future requirements, are the crucial pillars in our Group’s further successful development.

Along with the “mopping up” that had to be done in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Talanx made progress in 2009 towards attainment of the Group’s objectives. As far as the Group’s goal of expanding life reinsurance is concerned, Hannover Re recorded the successful acquisition of an individual life reinsurance portfolio at the start of the year. This acquisition marks a major step forward in the further diversification of the worldwide life and health reinsurance portfolio.