SWISS RE

'Swiss Re' is the world’s largest reinsurer, now that it has acquired GE Insurance Solutions . Founded in 1863, Swiss Re now operates in more than 30 countries. General Electric owns 8.9% of the firm.

Contents

History

Corporate Headquarters

Americas Headquarters

London Headquarters

Subsidiaries

Social Responsibility

Greenhouse Neutrality

References

Works cited

Bibliography

History

Swiss Re was founded December 19, 1863 by the Helvetia General Insurance Company in St. Gallen, the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (Credit Suisse) in Zurich and the Basler Handelsbank in Basel.

Corporate Headquarters

Swiss Re is headquartered in Zurich where the parent company’s main premises has stood on the shores of Lake Zurich since 1864.

Americas Headquarters

The Americas headquarters of Swiss Re are located in Armonk, New York on a 127-acre (52 hectares) site overlooking Westchester County’s Kensico Reservoir. The facility, which houses more than 1,000 employees from the company’s Life & Health and Property & Casualty business units, was completed in 1999 and expanded in 2004.
Swiss Re also has offices in New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Fort Wayne, Hartford, and Kansas City.

London Headquarters

Its new London headquarters are located in the award-winning 30 St Mary Axe tower, which opened on May 25, 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 February 5, 2007 for over £600 million (US$1.18 billion) to a group formed of IVG Immobilien AG of Germany and Evans Randall of Mayfair .

Subsidiaries

Broker dealer Swiss Re Capital Markets (SRCM), is a broker-dealer and leading underwriter and developer in the insurance-linked securities market. Since 1997 SRCM has underwritten over USD 15 billion of ILS including Insurance-Linked Bonds (ILBs) also known as Catastrophe Bonds (Cat Bonds) for third-party clients and its parent, Swiss Re.
Swiss Re Capital Markets has developed new security types such as earthquake bonds. Swiss Re Capital Markets also developed the parametric index trigger, the ILS shelf program, the first ILS synthetic CDO, and the first extreme mortality bond (linked to life risk)

Social Responsibility

Greenhouse Neutrality

Until 2011, Swiss Re supports its employees by refunding them up to 5000 Swiss Francs if they invest into technologies reducing CO2 emissions. Payments depend on the technology, its efficiency and the price of the investment. Examples of such technologies comprise hybrid cars, heat pumps, energy-saving fridges, or better insulated windows. It is widely accepted that CO2 is a major driver of global warming and reducing CO2 emissions will slow down the warming process. Since global warming will result in more frequent and more violent natural disasters the number and amount of indemnification payments will increase as well. The motivation is therefore not pure altruism but also part of Swiss Re's business strategy. Nevertheless, the measure is a real effort to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

References

Works cited

Swiss Re confirms £600m Gherkin sale
Swiss Re Completes $7.4 Billion GE Insurance Purchase (Update2)
Swiss Re prämiert ökologisches Verhalten (German)

Bibliography

★ Swiss Re