Wenning, 51, joined Munich Re in 1991 and has served on its board for the last seven years with responsibility for life reinsurance, which makes up about 20 percent of the group's 50 billion euros ($56 billion) in annual premiums.
Von Bomhard, 12 years at the helm, will step down at next year's annual meeting of shareholders on April 26, Munich Re said in a statement on Tuesday.
Wenning said in an interview published on the company's website he would work with von Bomhard over the next 13 months to smooth the handover.
"I will quickly assimilate myself with those areas where I need expertise and seek to profit from the experience of Nikolaus von Bomhard," Wenning said.
A German magazine report last week said that von Bomhard, 59, was stepping down to be able to take over as supervisory board chairman in 2019, after a standard two-year cooling-off period.
Munich Re on Tuesday declined to comment on von Bomhard's plans after his departure from management.
Life reinsurance premiums have doubled during Wenning's tenure on the board as insurance company clients grapple with the implications of trends such as demographic change and medical advances.
But Wenning, who holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Munich, also has experience in other key business areas, having helped realign marketing and sales at the group's Hamburg-Mannheimer primary insurance unit, for example.
In 2005, Wenning became CEO of Munich Re's Switzerland-based subsidiary, New Re, which underwrites property-casualty and structured reinsurance.
(Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
By Jonathan Gould
