Generali Deutschland Group: Successful development continued – substantial rise in earnings and premiums in the business year 2009

• Increase in net profit to € 341 m – dividend proposal of € 2.90 per share
• 4.3% growth of total premium income to more than € 14.8 bn
• Second-largest primary insurance group proves to be crisis-resilient – positive outlook for 2010

Cologne – The Generali Deutschland Group continues its successful development. Despite a difficult economic environment, the second-largest primary insurance Group in the German market was in a position to substantially increase its Group net profit to € 341 m (previous year: 4 m) in the business year 2009. Besides the recovery of stock markets starting in the course of the business year, this very positive development was primarily attributable to the well-established position of the Group companies in their markets. This is also reflected in the rise in total premium income. The latter improved by € 610 m to 14,850 m, which equals a growth rate of 4.3%.

"Against the background of the financial crisis and the economic environment in 2009 I am extremely satisfied with the development of our Group", said Dietmar Meister, Chief Executive Officer of Generali Deutschland, at the Group's press conference on annual results. The Group benefits from the diversification of its distribution channels, the strong advisory capacity of its employees and, in particular, from the strategic partnership with Deutsche Vermögensberatung. Dietmar Meister: "Thanks to the good development of our technical business and especially due to a further improved cost efficiency we were able to substantially increase our net profit in a difficult market environment. Proceeding from this strong position, we will continuously improve our profitability in the coming years."

On the basis of the positive development of business and earnings, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board propose to the Annual General Meeting of Generali Deutschland Holding AG to distribute a dividend of € 2.90 per unit share.

POSITIVE PREMIUM GROWTH
The Generali Deutschland Group again achieved good growth in insurance business. In 2009 the total premiums of direct business rose by 4.3% to € 14,844 m. In a difficult business year, the Group thus again achieved growth slightly above the market average. The German Insurance Association nominates a market growth of 4.1 percent. Like in previous years, growth was primarily driven by the Group's life and health insurers: in life insurance, the Group companies reached a premium growth of 5.1% (market: 7.1%). Including savings portions and the premiums of investment contracts, premiums rose to € 9,843 m (previous year: 9,362 m). In health insurance, premiums again developed far above market level, with the Group achieving a growth rate of 7.3% (market: 3.8%). The premium volume increased to € 1,980 m (previous year: 1,845 m). Business in property and casualty insurance stagnated, as expected. The premiums in this segment dropped slightly by 0.8% (market: 0.0%). The premium income amounted to € 3,031 m (previous year: 3,057 m).

STRONG NEW BUSINESS IN LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE
Thanks to the diversification of distribution channels in the Generali Deutschland Group, the new business of the life and health insurers witnessed a very positive development even in the difficult business year 2009. The Group's life insurers increased their new business by € 304 m or 14.0 percent to € 2,478 m. This includes new business in terms of single premiums which rose from € 1,074 m to 1,622 m, while new business in terms of regular premiums saw a decrease, as expected, by € 244 m to 856 m. This decline was primarily attributable to the fourth Riester incentive step implemented in the previous year.

New business in health insurance saw an outstanding development. Notwithstanding discussions about the future of private health insurance, the Generali Deutschland Group experienced an extraordinarily positive business expansion. The substantial increase in new business is in particular illustrated by a rise in the portfolio of persons with a full health cover by almost 50,000 to nearly 500,000. While the market achieves premium growth of 3.8 percent, the Group companies Central and Envivas reached a growth rate of 7.3 percent in terms of gross premiums written. The largest part of growth was due to the excellent level of new business.

FURTHER TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN INSURANCE BUSINESS
As a result of the continuous enhancement of processes and structures leading to an improvement in cost efficiency, the total costs of the Group, without commissions, decreased by more than € 31 m to 1,610 m. The Group thus outperformed its cost-cutting target in 2009.

The positive cost development is also illustrated by the combined ratio which, despite the difficult market environment, reached the good level of 95.6% in property in casualty insurance. Thus the Group remained below its target level of 96%.

INVESTMENT INCOME MORE THAN TRIPLED
In the closed business year, the German insurance industry was faced with great investment challenges. While the negative stock-market development initially continued well into 2009, share prices recovered noticeably starting from the middle of the second quarter. The business year closed with substantial price gains.

Amid this complex capital-market environment, the Generali Deutschland Group asserted itself very well and achieved a substantial increase in net investment income on the basis of its sustainable and risk-aware investment policy. The positive stock market development led to a noticeable decrease in write-downs. New investments were primarily made in corporate and European covered bonds, both of best quality. This also enabled the Group to reduce its level of low-interest liquidity. As a whole, the Generali Deutschland Group reached a net investment income of € 3,038 m (previous year: 858 m) as at December 31, 2009.

GROUP WELL PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE – POSITIVE OUTLOOK
The fundamentals for the successful development of the Generali Deutschland Group are the diversification of distribution channels and the concentration on strong brands. With its various sales channels geared to the requirements of customers, the Group proved its strength particularly in the crisis: the distribution activities of AachenMünchener are ensured, on an exclusive basis, by the long-standing strategic partner Deutsche Vermögensberatung which, with its more than 37,000 advisors, makes a vital contribution to the sales success of the entire Generali Deutschland Group. The multi-channel sales network of Generali Versicherungen achieved very convincing results, despite the difficult economic environment and the challenges involved in the merger of Generali and Volksfürsorge Versicherungen completed at the beginning of the year 2009. The direct-selling activities of CosmosDirekt showed a convincing performance, too: the company continues to be the undisputed market leader in its segment in Germany. And our specialized providers Advocard, Badenia, Central, Dialog and Generali Investments also made a vital contribution to the Group's success.

In the light of an economy showing recovery tendencies and on the basis of the good overall strategic orientation of Generali Deutschland, the Group anticipates a positive business development in 2010. Trust in the business models, especially in those of the life insurers, has rather grown amid the crisis. Dietmar Meister: "People are becoming increasingly aware that it is very important to take out crisis-proof cover against the risks that might jeopardize their existence. Therefore they are looking for reliable products and offers. And we are excellently positioned in this market field because this is exactly where our strength lies." Provided there are no extraordinary claims and capital markets are not affected by substantial and sustained adverse developments, the Group anticipates a Group net profit of more than € 360 m for the current business year and continuously rising earnings in the following years.

Under IFRS, according to the German regulation, technical items of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement are presented based on US-GAAP.

The Group Report 2009 is available on the Internet at www.generali-deutschland.de, Investor Relations section, Publications.

Forward-looking statements
To the extent this Release includes prognoses or expectations or forward-looking statements, these may involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties. The actual results and developments may therefore differ materially from the stated prognoses or expectations. Besides other reasons not specified here, deviations may be the result of changes of the overall economy or of the competitive situation, especially in core activities or core markets. Deviations may also result from the extent and the frequency of claims, lapse ratios, mortality or morbidity rates or tendencies. The developments of financial markets and of exchange rates of foreign currencies as well as amendments of national and international law, particularly in respect of tax rules, may have an influence. Terrorist attacks and their consequences may increase the probability and the extent of deviations. The company is under no obligation to update the statements made in this Release.

ABOUT GENERALI DEUTSCHLAND GROUP
With a premium income of more than € 14.8 bn and over 13.5 million customers, the Generali Deutschland Group is the second-largest primary insurance group in the German market. The Generali Deutschland Group includes companies such as Generali Versicherungen, AachenMünchener, CosmosDirekt, Central Krankenversicherung, Advocard Rechtsschutzversicherung, Deutsche Bausparkasse Badenia and Dialog as well as the Group-owned service providers Generali Deutschland Informatik Services, Generali Deutschland Services, Generali Deutschland Schadenmanagement, Generali Deutschland Immobilien and Generali Deutschland SicherungsManagement.