German insurance group Talanx has signalled its commitment to CEO Torsten Leue, extending his contract ahead of schedule.

Mr Leue, who joined the business in 2018, is now contracted to June 2030 – a move the Talanx supervisory board says rewards “outstanding work” and lays the foundation for more success.

Talanx, which includes the HDI Global and Hannover brands, is active in 175 countries and has 30,000 employees.

“Mr Leue has developed the group continuously and extremely successfully as CEO since May 2018. This applies to both the business performance and the cultural change of the group,” supervisory board chair Herbert Haas said.

“The supervisory board would like to thank Mr Leue for his outstanding work and is convinced that he and his team will continue on this path for the benefit of all stakeholders in the years to come.”

Mr Leue says he is “delighted to continue working with my colleagues on the board of management and all employees across the group with great dedication and a shared commitment to Talanx’s success”.

Talanx net income rose 25% to €2.48 billion ($4 billion) last year, the company has confirmed after releasing preliminary figures and its outlook for this year in February.

“We experienced the highest loss from natural disasters in the group’s history in the first quarter, while the following three quarters saw unusually few natural disasters,“ Mr Leue said.

“Our operating strength and the tailwind from our positive claims experience allowed us both to generate record group net income and to further increase our net income quality.“

The combined operating ratio improved to 89.1% from 90.3%.