Employee bar

In the bar together.1903 modern style meets history, a new present is created against the backdrop of our past. With its cozy atmosphere, the bar creates space for after-work and networking events or departmental meetings, thus promoting interaction and exchanges within our company.

The history of our Group is an important part of the concept: selected exhibits, a picture wall with images and memorabilia from past decades, and a projected overview of the historical development of our company enable people to engage with our development, our tradition and our purpose. Because where modernity meets history, space for reflection is created.

After Agile Space, DynamicSpace is a new space concept that adapts office space to agile, hybrid and collaborative working. In this way, hybrid working is supported, individual working methods and needs are given space and togetherness is encouraged. The modern and employee-oriented concept creates new spaces for creative and personal exchange. The office spaces at the domestic locations will be successively converted since 2022.

In 2021, the atrium at HDI-Platz in Hannover was converted into a bright, lively and cosy place for exchange and meeting. Trees and other plants create a calm and natural atmosphere, meeting islands that can be moved for events allow a flexible retreat from the open space and lounge furniture invites to relaxed coffee talks and creative exchange. Employees can also enjoy an ice cream stand with homemade ice cream, a barista espresso bar with handmade coffee and a cosy café.

From 2013 to 2022, the HDI Group was the main sponsor of Hannover 96 and named the stadium, thereby shaping the city's sporting image and underlining its regional bond. The Hannover 96 tricot is a reminder of an interesting and lively collaboration.

From 2013 to 2022, the HDI Group was the main sponsor of Hannover 96 and named the stadium, thereby shaping the city's sporting image and underlining its regional bond. The HDI Arena traffic sign is a reminder of an interesting and lively collaboration.

After the peak of the Corona pandemic, the return to the office will be celebrated in 2022 under the mottos #backtogether and "New Normal" with AfterWorx events on the roof terrace in Hanover and the cafeterias in Cologne, Hamburg and Hilden. With lounge music, cold drinks and a relaxed atmosphere, interesting encounters and conversations take place after work.

The December picture of the talanxPUNKT photo calendar 2015 from the employee magazine of the same name shows the winning photo of the photo competition on the topic of diversity at that time: eight colleagues in front of the building at HDI-Platz 1.

IT through the ages: The practical manual by Erwin Aikele and Max Krawinkel was published in 1958.

The anniversary beer cover shows the new HDI headquarters building in Hannover at Riethorst 2, which was taken into use in 1977.

In 1974, all branches in West Germany are connected to the head office in Hanover via their own data network. This overview map is attached to the 1974 Annual Report.

Draft of an advertisement from 1978.

Final artwork for a poster for the 50th anniversary of the Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie from 1953.

Emil Garvens, born in Hannover in 1853, founded the Haftpflichtverband der deutschen Eisen- und Stahl-Industrie (HDI) together with Paul Meesmann and Gustav Wurmstich in 1903. He had initiated the founding of the association, was a member of the founding commission and was the first chairman of the supervisory board of HDI. He remained chairman of the supervisory board until his death in 1921.

Emil Garvens was co-founder and co-owner of the renowned pump and machine factory W. Garvens in Wülfel, now a district of Hannover, and as Chairman of the local district association of the Gesamtverband Deutscher Metallindustrieller (German Metalworkers' Association), as Chairman of the Nordwestliche Eisen- und Stahl-Berufsgenossenschaft (Northwest Iron and Steel Employer's Liability Insurance Association) and as later Chairman of the Verein Deutscher Arbeitgeberverbände (Association of German Employers' Associations) he was one of the leading personalities among the industrialists of the time. His Hanoverian origins led to the relocation of the association's headquarters from Saarbrücken to Hannover in 1918 after the occupation of the Saar region.

“In the mutual insurance association, those threatened by risk unite.”

At the beginning of the twentieth century, many industrialists felt that their liability insurance policies only served the commercial interests of the large insurance companies. A survey carried out in 1902 confirmed these concerns: only around two percent of the premiums paid were spent on settling claims. The employers’ liability insurance associations of the iron and steel industry wanted to change this. On their behalf, Gustav Wurmstich, Emil Garvens and Paul Meesmann push for the establishment of their own liability association. The aim is to create an insurance company that serves the interests of its customers – the industrial enterprises it insures – and not the interests of a few shareholders.

On 8 December 1903, the Haftpflichtverband der deutschen Eisen- und Stahl-Industrie V.a.G. – a mutual insurance association – is founded in Frankfurt am Main.

The early years go very well for the new insurance association. In the following years, the association opens up to employers' liability insurance associations that do not belong to the iron and steel industry. While the Haftpflichtverband only had 464 members in 1905, by 1920 the number had already grown to 4,204. The 1920s brought a limited entry into private insurance business: employees of the insured companies could also take out private coverage against accident risks with the Haftpflichtverband.

After the Second World War, the Haftpflichtverband begins to rebuild and introduces structural reforms: New customers are no longer obliged to be members of the affiliated employers' liability insurance associations.

Private customer business moves into sharper focus. Initially, the product range is limited to motor vehicle insurance, while industrial insurance remains the core business. Reforms and the economic boom of the post-war years ensure rapid and continuous growth, both in high-risk large-scale business and in the more balanced volume business. In 1953, on its 50th anniversary, the Haftpflichtverband employed 137 people, a figure that had risen to 823 nationwide by 1967.

In 1966, the Feuerschadenverband founds Aktiengesellschaft für Transport- und Rückversicherung (ATR) – today’s Hannover Rück SE – in which the Haftpflichtverband acquires a 13 percent stake.

In 1970, the Haftpflichtverband and the Feuerschadenverband rheinisch-westfälischer Zechen merge. The merger brings a growth spurt for HDI, laying the foundation for today’s Group.

Since 1976, the company has been operating under the name Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie V.a.G. or HDI for short; in the following years, the number of Group companies grows to 20. The HDI Group gradually emerges from the Haftpflichtverband, taking its first steps into life insurance business through cooperation arrangements, expanding into lines such as fire insurance and extending the principle of loss prevention to the liability insurance sector.

The Group’s premium income exceeds the one billion mark for the first time in 1977. This makes HDI one of the six largest composite insurers in Germany at the end of the 1970s. In 1978, 1,787 employees work for HDI. With the founding of Hannover International Seguros S.A. in Brazil in 1979 and further international start-ups, the Group begins to expand its industrial insurance business around the world.

At the end of the 1980s, it becomes clear that HDI’s strengths – its major commitments in industrial lines, motor insurance and reinsurance – lay in highly risk-exposed business segments. Investments in areas that offer a more stable result and protect the Group against fluctuations become necessary.

In the 1990s, the Group responds to the deregulation of the internal market for European insurers by expanding its primary insurance internationally and growing vigorously in reinsurance. In addition to industrial lines, the private insurance sector becomes increasingly important: in 1991, the company makes a targeted entry into the life insurance market.

Thanks to the increasing number of participating interests abroad, HDI becomes an internationally operating group that already numbers 22 domestic and foreign companies by 1989. The Group is active in 120 countries through cooperation arrangements.

The end of the Cold War enables expansion into new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. The network of participations in the strategically important growth markets of Latin America is also further extended.

Hannover Re’s IPO in 1994 is another pioneering step towards enhancing the necessary risk diversification within the Group.

By the turn of the millennium a stable, international group has taken shape with 7,750 employees.

The early years of the new millennium are notable for further restructuring and international growth. Private and industrial insurance business is hived off from HDI V.a.G. to joint-stock companies. In 2003, one hundred years after the foundation of the Haftpflichtverband, all operational entities are merged into the Group holding company Talanx AG. HDI V.a.G. continues to act as the owner company.

In Europe, the Group enjoys above-average growth thanks to corporate acquisitions, participations and strategic partnerships. The Group is also able to significantly expand its market share in the target markets of Latin America as well as Central and Eastern Europe. Additional growth is generated by the expansion of financial services.

With the IPO on 2 October 2012, the Group consistently pursued its strategy and further expanded its position as a global player in the worldwide insurance market.

In 2018, the Group launched a very successful growth initiative in global specialty business with the founding of the specialty insurer HDI Global Specialty SE.

By developing the Group-wide purpose "Together we take care of the unexpected and foster entrepreneurship", Talanx defines its purpose and aspiration in 2019. In 2021, the Group reaches a milestone: Group net income exceeds the 1 billion euro mark for the first time. In the spring of 2022, the Group brings together the primary insurance companies in Germany under the employer brand HDI AG to be able to take quicker and concerted action on future issues.