Swiss Re

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For the Swiss Re Tower, London, see: 30 St Mary Axe

Swiss Re (SWX: RUKN) is the world’s largest reinsurer, now that it has acquired GE Insurance Solutions (Ligi 2006). Founded in 1863, Swiss Re now operates in more than 30 countries. General Electric owns 8.9% of the firm.

Swiss Re
Type	Aktiengesellschaft
Founded	December 19, 1863
Headquarters	Zurich, Switzerland
Industry	Reinsurance
Revenue	40,266,000,000 CHF (2006)
Net income	4,560,000,000 CHF (2006)
Employees	10,891 (2006)
Website	http://www.swissre.com/

Contents 1 History 2 Corporate Headquarters 2.1 London Headquarters 2.2 Americas Headquarters 2.3 Subsidiaries 3 Social Responsibility 3.1 Greenhouse Neutrality 4 References 4.1 Works cited 4.2 Bibliography

[edit] History

Swiss Re was founded December 19, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 (Financial Times 2007).

[edit] 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 Atlanta, Boston, Calabasas, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Wayne, Hartford, Kansas City, New York City, San Francisco, Schaumburg, Illinois and Avon, Connecticut.

[edit] Subsidiaries

This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

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)

[edit] Social Responsibility

[edit] 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 (Swiss Re 2007).

[edit] References

[edit] Works cited

• ^{^} Swiss Re confirms £600m Gherkin sale. Financial Times (February 5, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-07. “Swiss Re confirmed on Monday that it had sold the distinctive Gherkin building in the City of London for £600m to a joint venture between German property group IVG Immobilien AG and Evans Randall, the Mayfair based private investment group.”
• ^{^} Swiss Re (January 4, 2007). "Swiss Re offers CHF 5 000 rebate to each employee committing to reduce her or his personal carbon footprint". Press release.
• ^{^} Ligi, Antonio (June 12, 2006). Swiss Re Completes $7.4 Billion GE Insurance Purchase (Update2). Bloomberg.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-27.

[edit] Bibliography

• Swiss Re. Swiss Re (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-27.

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