Analysts and investors have wondered whether prices Munich Re charges to insurers like Allianz for taking on part of their storm risk would continue to rise, given the virtual absence of damage claims from the 2006 hurricane season that some suggested would start putting downward pressure on prices.

Outside the US hurricane business, prices in the January renewal round appeared stable, Jeworrek said.

Munich Re renews roughly 9 billion euros (US$12 billion) worth of property casualty business in January, almost two-thirds of its total in that business segment.

Jeworrek said Munich Re would stick strictly to its goal of achieving adequate prices for the risks it was taking on, and was prepared to walk away from unprofitable business.

"If prices are good, we are well-prepared to increase business but only under this condition. We have no top-line target."

While the books have closed on a calm 2006 hurricane season, Jeworrek warned that the storm horizon looked ominous in Europe.

"It is the warmest beginning of a winter season since the beginning of the systematic temperature measurement more than 100 years ago," he said.

"For European wind storms, the weather out there is not promising."

Munich Re is targeting record net profit of 3.2 to 3.4 billion euros this year, up from 2.7 billion in 2005. It is also buying back up to 1 billion euros of its own stock.

Jeworrek left open when and if next share buyback would take place, but said the company would review every year the amount of capital needed for its business.

"Additional capital should be returned to the shareholders, either by dividends or by share buybacks. We left that open, it can be either way," he said.

A further share buyback would also not stand in the way of Munich Re's hopes for a credit rating agency upgrade.

"The two things are not in contradiction," Jeworrek said.