Munich Re’s First Big Test: Can Jurecka’s Strategy Hold Up Against a Surging Euro?

Munich Re's new CEO Christoph Jurecka reports Q1 earnings as a strong euro slashes profits, pricing softens, and the stock hits a 52-week low. Full-year target of €6.3B net profit remains.

The calendar is circled in red at Munich Re’s headquarters. On May 12, Christoph Jurecka, who took the helm in January, will deliver his first quarterly earnings report as CEO. And the timing couldn’t be more delicate. The stock has already slid to its 52-week low of €503.80, shedding more than 8% since the start of the year.

The culprit is as familiar as it is stubborn: a strengthening euro. Munich Re books a hefty chunk of its revenue in US dollars, and the currency has been moving sharply against it. At the start of 2025, the exchange rate hovered around $1.03 to the euro. Over the past quarter, it consistently traded between $1.15 and $1.20, peaking at the higher end of that range. The impact has been brutal. In the previous quarter alone, currency effects shaved 12% off net profit, dragging it to €945 million. The cumulative currency hit for the first quarter is estimated at €1.4 billion.

That’s not the only headwind. The pricing environment has softened, particularly in property and casualty reinsurance. A quiet period for natural catastrophes has reduced claims, which in turn has lowered customers’ willingness to pay higher premiums. Munich Re’s response has been disciplined but costly: it walked away from underperforming contracts. At the January renewals, premium volume fell by nearly 8% to €13.7 billion, with rates dropping 2.5%.

Despite the squeeze, management is holding firm on its full-year target. The company is guiding for an IFRS net profit of €6.3 billion in 2025, a slight increase from last year’s record €6.12 billion. That ambition will be tested when the Q1 numbers hit the tape.

Away from the earnings drama, the company is pushing ahead with a major internal overhaul. Its primary insurance arm, ERGO, plans to cut around 1,000 jobs by 2030. The reductions will focus on standardized roles in call centers and claims processing, areas increasingly handled by artificial intelligence. Munich Re says there will be no compulsory redundancies, relying instead on natural attrition, severance packages, and retraining programs for hundreds of employees. The cuts are part of a broader cost-saving initiative aimed at reducing annual expenses at the parent company by €600 million.

There’s also a change in the auditor’s seat. Starting with the 2026 financial year, KPMG will take over as Munich Re’s external auditor, replacing EY. The switch follows a decision by the German audit watchdog APAS, which imposed a temporary ban on EY taking on new audit mandates in the wake of the Wirecard scandal. Munich Re’s annual general meeting formally approved the appointment in late April.

For now, all eyes are on Tuesday’s report. The market will be watching the currency line closely. If the euro’s drag proves less severe than feared, the stock could find a floor. But if the numbers disappoint, a break below the €500 mark would darken the technical picture further. Jurecka’s first earnings call is shaping up to be a defining moment.