Corporate wording

Capitalisation

English: as used in the Financial Times. The names of Hannover Re's business groups are capitalised and the two elements are linked by an "&" sign. The abbreviated form has no spaces between the capital letters and the "&" sign. Depending upon the context, the words "reinsurance" or "business group" may be added afterwards without capital letters.

When reference is clearly being made to an organisational unit or, as part of an overview, to an area of responsibility, (e.g. in organisational charts, overview of Board responsibilities in the Annual Report, in image brochures etc.), the name of the organisational unit is capitalised.

However, when the subject matter in question is business or the markets in general, the designation is not capitalised. Elements are linked by an "and". In order to avoid unsightly combinations such as "life and health and property and casualty", the elements that belong together may be linked with an "&" sign ("life & health and property & casualty"). An abbreviation is not used in such instances.

The "&" sign is to be used only in conjunction with the two business groups P&C and L&H and with Hannover Re's business (property & casualty and life & health) as well as the markets in general (see table above). It may not be used for lines of business, departments etc. This serves to avoid visually overloading the reader and at the same time brings out the higher-order status of the business groups. 

Lines of business (aviation, marine etc.) are not capitalised in continuous text. They are capitalised as part of a division's name (e.g. Direct and Facultative Division).

German: as in the latest "Duden" spelling dictionary

Hyphenation

As in the "Oxford Dictionary" (in German "Duden"), except where otherwise specified in the Corporate Wording.

File size

Always in capital letters (200 KB, 1.2 MB)

File formats

Use the extension code in capital letters (PDF, HTML)

Date and times

In lists, calendar entries, titles

Date format yyyy-mm-dd

• 2005-12-31
• 2007-02-08/09
• 2007-02-28/03-01

In tables

• yyyy-mm-dd without brackets or
• short form 1.1.-31.3.2011

In continuous text

English:

• 2 September 2012 or
• 2 Sep 2012 or
• 2 Sep 12

German:

• 2. September 2012 or
• 2. Sep 2012 or
• 2. Sep 12

Times

Recommended:

• English: written with a full stop, e.g. 9.30 am
• German: written with a colon, e.g. 9:30 Uhr

German language

Follows the latest version of "Duden"; if there are several options, we use the version recommended by "Duden". For exceptions see the German Corporate Wording.

E-mail addresses

E-mail: first name.surname@hannover-re.com

English language

British English (with "s" as in "organisation") for all purposes except marketing material exclusively for specific English-language markets (e.g. USA) and subsidiaries headquartered in specific English-language markets (e.g. HLR US).

British English (BE) for all purposes except marketing material exclusively intended for specific English-language markets (e.g. USA) or subsidiaries headquartered in specific English-language markets (e.g. HLR US). American English (AE) may be used in these cases.

Notable examples of differences in orthography between BE and AE:

• Suffix "-s-"/"-z-" ("organise", "organising", "organisation"). We use the "-s-" form for all purposes other than the exception discussed in the opening paragraph. Strictly speaking, this is not a BE/AE distinction because both forms are acceptable in BE (with very few specific exceptions such as AE "analyze"), whereas AE only uses the "-z-" form.
• Many words ending in "-re" in BE are written "-er" in AE (BE "centre"/AE "center").
• The BE ending "-our" corresponds to the AE ending "-or" in numerous words (BE "colour"/AE "color", BE "favour"/AE "favor").
• In certain words BE "-ce" corresponds to AE "-se" (BE "licence"/AE "license", BE "defence"/AE "defense"); as an additional complication, there are cases where AE consistently uses "-se" but BE uses "-ce" for the noun and "-se" for the verb: BE "practice" (noun), "practise" (verb), BE "licence" (noun), "license" (verb), but AE "practise", "license" in all contexts.
• The presence of a single or double "l" in a word may vary depending, among other things, on the language of origin. For example, BE "traveller" but AE "traveler", BE "fulfil" but AE "fulfill".
• Last but not least, the shortening of some word endings is more common in AE: BE "catalogue" but AE "catalog", BE "programme" but AE "program". Note, however, that BE uses the spelling "program" in the IT field.

Percent sign

Please note: in English there is no space between the number and the percent sign, in German they are separated by a space.

Word splitting

English: as in the "Oxford Dictionary"

German: as in the latest "Duden" spelling dictionary

Telephone/fax numbers

+international dialling code area code switchboard-extension (+49 511 5604-0)

Previous year´s figures

English: when first mentioned in continuous text "(previous year: EUR xx million)", thereafter only currency and amount in brackets "(EUR xx million)".

German: when first mentioned in continuous text "(Vj.: xx Mio. EUR)", thereafter only amount and currency in brackets "(xx Mio. EUR)".

Currencies

Always given in the three-letter ISO code: EUR, USD, ZAR. Position in English and German as follows:

• English: EUR 100 million / thousand
• English: in EUR million
• German: 100 Mio. EUR / TEUR
• German: in Mio. EUR

In PowerPoint the "million" can be replaced by "m." to save space.

Numbers

Numbers are written in the standard English/German notation:

• English: positive/negative number: 1,234.5 / (1,234.5)
• English: upward/downward change: +10% / -23%
• German: positive/negative number: 1.234,5 / -1.234,5
• German: upward/downward change: +10 % / -23 %

Please note: in English there is no space between the number and the percent sign, in German they are separated by a space.

Items with a value of zero in a table are indicated by "-" (not: "0").

Punctuation

As in the "Oxford Dictionary" (in German "Duden")