MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Munich Re's chief executive has warned that the industry will not be able to live forever with low interest rates that limit insurers' abilities to make money on capital investments while having to pay out guaranteed returns to customers.

“That is placing enormous stress on us,” Nikolaus von Bomhard told reporters on Monday evening, adding that certain customer rights to guaranteed returns should be restricted in order to give life insurers more breathing room.

Munich Re manages assets of more than 200 billion euros ($245 billion), making it one of the world's biggest investors.

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