Swiss Re
 |
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| Aktiengesellschaft | |
| Traded as | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | December 19, 1863 |
| Headquarters | Zurich, Switzerland |
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Key people
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Christian Mumenthaler (Group CEO), Walter Kielholz (Chairman), |
| Products | Reinsurance, insurance, asset management |
| Revenue | US $33.231 billion (2016) |
| Profit | US $3.558 billion (2016) |
| Total assets | US $215.065 billion (end 2016) |
| Total equity | US $35.716 billion (end 2016) |
|
Number of employees
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14,053 (end 2016) |
| Website | www.swissre.com |
Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, generally 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 - competitor and industry leader Munich Re: 103th.
The Swiss Reinsurance Company of Zurich was founded on 19 December 1863 by the Helvetia General Insurance Company (now using the trade name of Helvetia insurance) in St. Gallen, the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (Credit Suisse) in Zurich and the Basler Handelsbank (predecessor of UBS AG) bank in Basel.
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 3000 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. Hence the need to provide more effective means of coping with the risks posed by such devastation.
The company’s articles of association were approved by the government of the Canton of Zurich on 19 December 1863. 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.
In the late 1930s Swiss banker Ulrich Neukom effectively 'took' Swiss Re over to Beijing, China, where he introduced Asian companies to Swiss Re and allowed them to use the services which Swiss Re had to offer. However, Swiss Re were not officially present in China until the 1990s; the headquarters for China in Wanchai, Hong Kong, opened in 2003.
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Wikipedia