Germany’s Munich Re is the world’s largest reinsurer, with over 4,000 corporate clients in more than 160 countries. About a third of revenues come from its primary insurance division ERGO, which provides life, health, property and casualty insurance in Germany and abroad—although two thirds of Munich Re’s 43,000 employees work on that side of the business. The group was founded by Carl Thieme in 1880, and had become the largest reinsurer in Germany within three years. Its home market remains its most important, closely followed by the United States. It is still based in Munich.

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