Meet Our Experts: Andreas Brügel // Reinsurance

Our “Meet Our Experts” series introduces our experts from all divisions of the Delvag Group. This time: Andreas Brügel, Director Reinsurance. In this interview, he discusses captives and the best insurance solutions for the Lufthansa Group in a hardening insurance market.

Andreas, how would you describe the role of the reinsurance division within Delvag and the Lufthansa Group?
The risks to be insured are becoming more complex and numerous, especially for the aviation industry. To meet the steadily-increasing need for reinsurance, we, the reinsurance division team, support this “third level” of the insurance business. Delvag’s commitment to this market thereby completes the captive duo of insurer and broker.

Reinsurance is an integral part of Delvag Group’s risk management. As a reliable and trusted partner, we develop both traditional and non-traditional reinsurance solutions. Our underwriting policy is sustainable and we provide important contributions to the success of the Delvag Group and the Lufthansa Group.

What challenges does reinsurance currently face in light of the Lufthansa Group’s difficult situation?
Lufthansa’s economic situation because of the Covid-19 crisis is well-known to everybody. Unfortunately, the situation was further aggravated by the fact that the insurance market hardened significantly at the same time, and coverage concepts for our parent company were simply no longer available as usual, and in some cases still are not. Coverage was cut and exclusions were rephrased. But challenges also present opportunities. And this is where the reinsurance captive can use its strength and function by balancing capacity constraints across sectors and increasing arbitrage effects. 

What do you think of the future for captives?
Captives are wonderful risk management tools which, I believe, should play a very active role in their owners’ risk management and not act merely as capacity providers. However, as capacity providers, captives are subject to a cycle which normally runs contrary to the “open” insurance market. With strong primary and fronting insurance partners with a global footprint, reinsurance captives can especially overcome licensing hurdels and be of significant value to the parent company. The hardening market and the most recent studies of several insurance associations confirmed my assumption that captives are experiencing a renaissance in various forms.

Thank you for the interview.

About Andreas Brügel
Andreas Brügel has been at the Delvag Group for over 12 years. He served in various positions in the corporate client segment at Albatros and the US before transferring to reinsurance. As Director Reinsurance, he is currently responsible for the underwriting of Group risks, counterparty risk management and securing Delvag’s outward reinsurance. In his spare time, Andreas enjoys traveling to distant and exotic countries and going on long motorcycle rides. He is also an avid runner and interested in cart racing – though only as a spectator nowadays.

Von Philipp Schmid
Corporate Communications Delvag
kommunikation@delvag.de