Munich Re has announced a €700m hit from COVID-19 claims in Q2 2020 and scrapped plans to buy back shares.

In an announcement ahead of releasing its full figures for Q2 on 6th August, the German reinsurer said it had recorded a net profit of approximately €600m for the period.

Munich Re said the largest share of its COVID-19 losses came from cancelled events.

In February this year Munich Re announced that it would repurchase shares with a maximum total value of €1bn between its annual general meetings in 2020 and 2021.

At the end of March, it put the programme on hold and has now said it will not be reinstated ahead of the initially proposed 2021 deadline.

The company statement said: “Munich Re perceives considerable ongoing uncertainty with respect to the macroeconomic development and the financial impact of COVID-19, and does not expect that uncertainty will subside between now and early 2021.

“In addition, Munich Re has recently identified truly favourable conditions for growing its reinsurance business and therefore the active use of its capital. For these reasons, Munich Re will definitely not implement its discontinued 2020/2021 share buy-back programme.”

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