Stephanie Bode has been appointed to an expanded leadership role within the Talanx Group, effective September 1. She will serve as Head of Reinsurance at HDI Global while also leading the Corporate & Specialty Lines department at Talanx Group Reinsurance.
In her dual position, Bode will report to Stefan Pasternak, CFO of HDI Global, and Oliver Grabau, Head of Talanx Group Reinsurance. The move underscores Talanx’s strategy to centralise reinsurance purchasing and coordination across the group.
Bode succeeds Rainer Fischer, who is retiring after nine years as Head of Reinsurance at HDI Global, though he will continue to support the company in an advisory role. At Talanx Group Reinsurance, she takes over from Antje Pfitzner, who will now lead Group Reinsurance Retail & Group Protection & Counterparty Risk Management.
Previously, Bode oversaw market management for Continental Europe (excluding Germany), South Africa, and Japan at HDI Global.
Talanx’s decision reflects a broader industry trend among European and global insurers to consolidate reinsurance buying. By pooling placements across business units, insurers aim to leverage scale, secure better terms, and improve consistency in contracts.
Companies such as Allianz and Generali have restructured their reinsurance operations in recent years to strengthen negotiating power with reinsurers. This strategy has gained importance as ceded reinsurance costs remain elevated—particularly in property-catastrophe lines—and reinsurers continue to tighten terms in response to climate change, geopolitical risks, and inflation-driven losses.
For Talanx, consolidating under a single leadership structure not only enhances purchasing power but also provides greater flexibility to adapt to market conditions while ensuring alignment across its reinsurance portfolio. For reinsurers, this shift means larger, more complex negotiations but also clearer visibility into group-level exposures.
With her dual mandate, Bode will play a key role in helping Talanx navigate the challenging reinsurance market and maintain access to capacity for both HDI Global’s corporate clients and the group’s broader specialty lines portfolio.
Earlier this month, HDI Global also appointed Nikita Tikhonov as Head of Marine Global Risk, succeeding Felix Cassua, who will join Hannover Re.
