Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, commonly known as Swiss Re, is a reinsurance company based in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the world's second-largest reinsurer. It acquired GE Insurance Solutions in 2006. Founded in 1863, Swiss Re operates through offices in more than 25 countries. Swiss Re was ranked 118th in Forbes 2000 Global leading companies 2016. It was also ranked 313th in Fortune Global 500 in 2015.
History
On 10/11 May 1861, more than 500 houses went up in flames in the town of Glarus. Two-thirds of the town sank into rubble and ashes; around 3,000 inhabitants were made homeless. Like the fire of Hamburg in 1842, which led to the foundation of the first professional reinsurers in Germany, the great fire of Glarus in 1861 showed that insurance coverage was totally inadequate in Switzerland in the event of such a catastrophe. The Swiss Reinsurance Company of Zurich was founded on 19 December 1863 by the Helvetia General Insurance Company in St. Gallen, the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt in Zurich and the Basler Handelsbank in Basel. The company's articles of association were approved by the government of the Canton of Zurich on the same day. The foundation capital, which was 15% paid up, amounted to 6 million Swiss francs. The official foundation document bore the signature of the poet Gottfried Keller, who at the time was first secretary of the Canton of Zurich. Swiss Re was the lead insurer of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks which led to an insurance dispute with the owner, Silverstein Properties. In October 2006, the New York appeals court ruled in favor of Swiss Re, stating that the destruction of the twin towers was a single event rather than two, limiting coverage to 3.5 billion USD. The UK Admin Re business of Swiss Re began with the acquisition on 1 July 2004 of Life Assurance Holding Corporation. On 31 October 2008, Swiss Re completed a £762 million acquisition of In June 2014, the company through Admin Re acquired the UK pensions business of HSBC Life Limited worth £4.2 billion. The Admin Re business, which was renamed ReAssure, was eventually sold to Phoenix Group Holdings for £3.2bn in July 2020. In 2009, Warren Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's raising equity capital Berkshire Hathaway already owns a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%. In May 2016, the Fort McMurray Canadian wildfires caused estimated damages of up to 10 billion CAD with Swiss Re having the most exposure among reinsurers, covering 70-80% of the losses.
Products
The Group consists of the following three business units:
Reinsurance: Reinsurance is Swiss Re's largest business in income terms, providing about 80% of gross premiums in two segments: Property & Casualty and Life & Health.
Corporate Solutions: Markets insurance to mid-sized and multinational corporations around the world, with over 40 offices worldwide. Offerings range from standard risk transfer covers and multi-line programmes to highly customised arrangements.
Life Capital: Accepts closed books of in-force life and health insurance business, entire lines of business, or the entire capital stock of life insurance companies, enabling clients to divest non-core blocks of business, thus reducing administrative costs and freeing up capital.
The group has offices in over 25 countries. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Swiss Re has offices in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. In Asia and Australasia, the group has offices in the following countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea. There are also offices in the Americas: in Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Corporate headquarters
Swiss Re is headquartered in Zurich where the parent company's main premises have stood on the shores of Lake Zurich since 1864.
Its London office is located in the award-winning 30 St Mary Axe tower, which opened on 25 May 2004. 30 St Mary Axe is London's first environmentally sustainable tall building. Among the building's most distinctive features are its windows, which open to allow natural ventilation to supplement the mechanical systems for a good part of the year. The landmark London skyscraper, designed by architect Norman Foster and popularly known as 'the gherkin', was confirmed sold on 5 February 2007 for over £600 million to a group formed of IVG Immobilien AG of Germany and Evans Randall of Mayfair.
