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About Us
General Re®
Gen Re delivers reinsurance solutions to the Life/Health and Property/Casualty insurance industries. We work closely with our clients to understand their strategic and operational goals, offering a wide range of products, tools and resources that aim to promote our clients’ ongoing growth and success. As a direct reinsurer, we are in the risk assumption business, just like our clients. Our shared perspective helps us understand and evaluate even the toughest risks - and propose the right solution for you.
Gen Re is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies, and has earned superior financial strength ratings from each of the major rating agencies. We take our commitments very seriously. And with $17.2 billion in capital and $11.8 billion in premiums (NPW), we only make promises we can keep.
A.M. Best: A++ (Superior)
Moody's Financial Strength Rating: Aa1
Standard & Poor's Claims Paying Ability Rating: AA+
Financial strength ratings of Gen Re's reinsurance operations.
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Family of Companies
Gen Re, as a direct reinsurer, is one of the leading Life/Health and Property/Casualty reinsurers in the world. We are represented in all major reinsurance markets through a network of more than 40 offices worldwide.
General Re®, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is the holding company for global reinsurance and related operations. It owns General Reinsurance® and General Reinsurance AG, which conduct business as Gen Re.
The People Behind The Promise®
The insurance, reinsurance and investment management companies in our group include:
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History of Gen Re
History of Gen Re
With our roots beginning in 1921 in North America and in 1846 in Europe, we’ve always been an "underwriting company" – more interested in underwriting quality than volume. We’ve been a direct reinsurer since 1929 when General Reinsurance® affirmed that it would only sell directly to insurers.Gen Re has made significant contributions to the structure of today’s reinsurance markets. In Germany in 1846 (as Cologne Re), the world’s first independent professional reinsurance company was born, and in 1852, the first professional reinsurance treaty was signed. Gen Re was the first company to offer casualty and property facultative reinsurance in the 1950s and the first company to write reinsurance on an excess basis.
In 1994, General Re® formed an alliance with Cologne Re (now General Reinsurance AG). In 1998, Berkshire Hathaway acquired General Re Corporation, our holding company, and in 2003 General Re and Cologne Re began marketing globally under the brand name of Gen Re. In 2009 General Re completed its purchase of Cologne Re, whose name was changed to General Reinsurance AG in 2010.
We have no exit strategy. Gen Re will be here for the long term.
In 2021 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of our founding in North America and the 175th anniversary of the historical Cologne Re. Find out more about our pioneering past on our anniversary homepage.
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Corporate Responsibility
Corporate Responsibility
Gen Re takes social responsibility very seriously with respect to our associates, our clients, our community and our environment. We have a Code of Business Conduct in place, which guides our employees to fair and ethical business conduct and explains our shared responsibilities to the public and our business partners, and amongst ourselves. This code is an essential means for achieving our corporate goals. Every employee is expected to be familiar with it, and every manager is expected to ensure the observance of these rules.
In the U.S. Gen Re makes annual donations that focus mostly on social services. We also have a "100% matching" program for the private donations of our German staff members, and we award an annual scholarship to young classical musicians in Cologne. And we sponsor a visiting professor at the Institute for Insurance Education at the University of Cologne.
Gen Re offices have implemented a number of energy-saving and recycling initiatives. With our risk management expertise, as a leading global reinsurer and financial services company, we believe that we may be able to make an impact on some of the considerable challenges and opportunities posed by rapid environmental, economic and societal changes and the risks that emerge from those changes.
Gen Re’s IT security landscape addresses the ever-evolving security challenges and threats, and at the same time contributes to the development and deployment of robust IT governance mechanisms.
We will continue to build on our activities in these fields, and will consider undertaking specific and appropriate Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives as they arise.
Gen Re, as a direct reinsurer, is one of the leading Life/Health and Property/Casualty reinsurers in the world. We are represented in all major reinsurance markets through a network of more than 40 offices worldwide.
General Re®, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is the holding company for global reinsurance and related operations. It owns General Reinsurance® and General Reinsurance AG, which conduct business as Gen Re.
The People Behind The Promise®
The insurance, reinsurance and investment management companies in our group include:
History of Gen Re
With our roots beginning in 1921 in North America and in 1846 in Europe, we’ve always been an "underwriting company" – more interested in underwriting quality than volume. We’ve been a direct reinsurer since 1929 when General Reinsurance® affirmed that it would only sell directly to insurers.
Gen Re has made significant contributions to the structure of today’s reinsurance markets. In Germany in 1846 (as Cologne Re), the world’s first independent professional reinsurance company was born, and in 1852, the first professional reinsurance treaty was signed. Gen Re was the first company to offer casualty and property facultative reinsurance in the 1950s and the first company to write reinsurance on an excess basis.
In 1994, General Re® formed an alliance with Cologne Re (now General Reinsurance AG). In 1998, Berkshire Hathaway acquired General Re Corporation, our holding company, and in 2003 General Re and Cologne Re began marketing globally under the brand name of Gen Re. In 2009 General Re completed its purchase of Cologne Re, whose name was changed to General Reinsurance AG in 2010.
We have no exit strategy. Gen Re will be here for the long term.
In 2021 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of our founding in North America and the 175th anniversary of the historical Cologne Re. Find out more about our pioneering past on our anniversary homepage.
Corporate Responsibility
Gen Re takes social responsibility very seriously with respect to our associates, our clients, our community and our environment. We have a Code of Business Conduct in place, which guides our employees to fair and ethical business conduct and explains our shared responsibilities to the public and our business partners, and amongst ourselves. This code is an essential means for achieving our corporate goals. Every employee is expected to be familiar with it, and every manager is expected to ensure the observance of these rules.
In the U.S. Gen Re makes annual donations that focus mostly on social services. We also have a "100% matching" program for the private donations of our German staff members, and we award an annual scholarship to young classical musicians in Cologne. And we sponsor a visiting professor at the Institute for Insurance Education at the University of Cologne.
Gen Re offices have implemented a number of energy-saving and recycling initiatives. With our risk management expertise, as a leading global reinsurer and financial services company, we believe that we may be able to make an impact on some of the considerable challenges and opportunities posed by rapid environmental, economic and societal changes and the risks that emerge from those changes.
Gen Re’s IT security landscape addresses the ever-evolving security challenges and threats, and at the same time contributes to the development and deployment of robust IT governance mechanisms.
We will continue to build on our activities in these fields, and will consider undertaking specific and appropriate Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives as they arise.
