Munich Reinsurance Co. on Thursday announced a provisional fourth-quarter profit of about €700 million ($790.4 million), down 41.7% compared with the fourth quarter of 2013.

Currency movements, among other factors, had a negative effect on the fourth-quarter result, the reinsurer.

For full-year 2014, Munich Re reported €3.2 billion ($3.61 billion), down 3% from 2013.

The reinsurer, which will report full results on March 11, said in a presentation that the impact of major losses was lower than expected in 2014 but that factors such as negative currency effects and a weaker performance of derivative financial instruments had affected its profits.

Munich Re posted a provisional investment result of €8.0 billion ($9.03 billion), up 11.1% compared with 2013 but said that changes in the value of derivatives had negatively affected that result by about €1.1 billion ($1.24 billion).

Munich Re said its reinsurance operations posted a profit of €2.9 billion ($3.27 billion) for 2014, up 3.6% compared with 2013. Gross written premiums fell by 3.6% to €26.8 billion ($30.26 billion) in 2014 from 2013, in part because of adverse exchange rate developments.

Major losses totaled €1.2 billion ($1.36 billion) in 2014, down 29.4% compared with 2013, Munich Re said. Of those, the largest was €305 million ($344.4 million) from Japanese snowstorms in February.

Of man-made losses in 2014, the largest was €150 million ($169.4 million) for an explosion at a Russian refinery, Munich Re said, while two aircraft crashes cost the company about €52 million ($58.7 million).

The treaty reinsurance renewals at Jan. 1 were “marked by an oversupply of reinsurance capacity and good capitalization of most market players,” Munich Re said.

“The downward pressure on prices, terms and conditions remained stable in most classes,” it said in a statement, with only loss-affected programs — such as some aviation programs — seeing rate increases.

“Overcapacity and a relatively low number of natural catastrophes in 2014 added to the competitive pressure, above all in catastrophe business,” said Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re board member responsible for reinsurance.

“But Munich Re’s broad diversification across lines of business and markets, bolstered by stable client relationships, paid off for us,” he added.