Helvetia Insurance

Helvetia Holding AG

Type	Aktiengesellschaft
Traded as	SIX: HELN
ISIN	CH0012271687
Industry	Insurance
Founded	1858
Headquarters	St. Gallen, Switzerland
Key people	Philipp Gmür (CEO) Pierin Vincenz (President of the Board of Directors)
Revenue	8.23 bn CHF (2015) (business volume)
Total assets	54,145 bn CHF (31 December 2015) (balance sheet total)
Number of employees	6,675 (31 December 2015)
Website	www.helvetia.com

Helvetia Holding AG is a Swiss all-lines insurance company with operations throughout Europe. The company has been organised as a holding structure since 1996, with the holding company's listed on the Swiss stock market, SIX Swiss Exchange. The two public limited companies, Helvetia Life (Basel) and Helvetia Insurance (St. Gallen), belong to the parent company Helvetia Holding either directly or indirectly. The largest shareholder in the insurance group is Patria Cooperative Society, which holds 30 per cent.

The registered office of Helvetia Group is in (St. Gallen). Its market presence focuses on the country markets in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain, with emphasis on its core areas: risk management (life and non-life insurance, reinsurance) and in private and occupational pension plans. Helvetia also provides transport insurance services in France as a niche line of business and is engaged in reinsurance worldwide. Helvetia has around 6,600 employees throughout Europe and provides services for more than two million customers. The core strengths of Helvetia are in risk management (life and non-life insurance, reinsurance) and in private and occupational pension plans.

Helvetia adheres to the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The EFQM model is applied in order to raise quality and service on a continuous basis, aiming at efficient processes and satisfied customers and staff.

The firm was formed in 1858 as “Allgemeine Versicherungs-Gesellschaft Helvetia” in St. Gallen. Three years later it established its own private fire insurance company called “Helvetia Feuer” in St. Gallen, prompted by the Glarus fire. In 1862, Helvetia Feuer established its first branches in Germany and, starting in 1876, expanded into the USA, opening offices in California and New York. Following the California earthquake in 1906, Helvetia attempted to withdraw from the U.S. market without paying on claims from the earthquake.