2016 update:
Müller retired from his role at CRO of Hannover Re earlier this year, but remains involved in the industry as a consultant, writer, lecturer and a participant in national and international actuarial associations. He sits on the DAV's non-life and ERM committees, and was recently elected as a member of the ASTIN committee.
Eberhard Müller, CRO, Hannover Re
A long-standing CRO for a major reinsurer, a participant in many actuarial working parties and a lecturer in enterprise risk, Müller is a leading voice in the development of European risk management practices and regulators.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
Most enjoyable are the people I'm working with. First of all my staff – a lot of actuaries, but believe me: that doesn't mean we don't have fun. The opposite is true: even complying with regulatory requirements can be quite entertaining if you view it from the right angle…
The other exciting part is the truly global nature of risk management at a worldwide reinsurer. Learning about different cultures – including risk cultures – and nevertheless harmonising necessary common approaches by travelling around, talking to people and assisting in implementation efforts is a unique experience.
What will be the next big development in risk management?
The next major developments will be from those who are combining traditional actuarial methods with other disciplines like behavioural science, psychology and mechanism theory in order to catch "black swans".
Who or what has inspired your work?
I had the privilege to start my career at Hannover Re in 1982 as assistant to the chairman and founder of Hannover Re, Claus Bingemer. He gave me the opportunity to establish the non-life actuarial department and to introduce all the nice tools including one of the first natural catastrophe simulation models in Europe back in 1989: CATMAP from AIR – and Karen Clark, the president and founder of AIR, also is one of the personalities that still inspire me.
Who do you most admire in the field of risk management?
My first "hero" after entering the reinsurance business was Jim Stanard, the founder of Renaissance Re, who converted the principle of risk-based capital allocation into real money by just comparing whether a new treaty would add value to the existing portfolio. And it's so simple: deduct the expected value of losses, the expenses and the amount for serving the allocated capital from the premium and check what's left. Renaissance Re's return on equity was second to none for years but as time went by we at least were able to come close!
My other risk management hero is Warren Buffett. He is my prime example on how "soft skills" with very simple but consequent rules can be turned into lasting success.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to emulate your success?
Talking and listening – listening and talking! Implementing risk management structures in a worldwide enterprise almost certainly will fail if somebody develops a comprehensive "risk management guideline" and sends it around by email to the responsible managers with the request to sign off receipt and confirm implementation. This never ever will get the respective messages through to the most important level: the people doing the business. The only chance you have is to educate via workshops, seminars, participation in retreats, etc. And not only once – you have to repeat this regularly.
What are your other interests?
As risk manager I love if things are moving like "on rails"! Therefore it's not really surprising that I love everything on rails. Railroads, trams, streetcars – whenever I come to a new location I check out what's going on there on rails. And also not really surprising: I have a quite sizeable model railroad at home…