→ Insurer assume risks from consumers and companies. They pass on some of these risks to reinsurers, who charge a fee for this. As reinsurers are usually organised on a global basis, a worldwide risk equalisation is achieved in this way. This avoids → Insurerthat they have a large → Claim would be overwhelmed. In simple terms, it can be described as insurance of insurance. The insurance company pays a so-called reinsurance premium to the reinsurer and in return receives partial relief for the risks assumed by the customer.

Reinsurers play a particularly important role for very large individual risks, such as major infrastructure projects or industrial plants, but also as protection against the accumulation of losses, for example due to severe weather events.