Swiss Re

Swiss Re AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides wholesale reinsurance, insurance, other insurance-based forms of risk transfer, and other insurance-related services worldwide. The company operates through Property & Casualty Reinsurance, Life & Health Reinsurance, and Corporate Solutions. The Property & Casualty Reinsurance segment underwrites property reinsurance, including property, credit and surety, engineering, aviation, marine, agriculture, retakaful, and facultative reinsurance solutions; and casualty reinsurance, such as liability, motor, worker's compensation, personal accident, management and professional liability, cyber, and facultative reinsurance solutions. The Life & Health Reinsurance segment underwrites life and health insurance products. The Corporate Solutions segment offers standard risk transfer covers and multi-line programs to customized solutions. It serves stock and mutual insurance companies, public sector and governmental entities, mid-sized and large corporations, and individuals. Swiss Re AG was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

On 10–11 May 1861, more than 500 houses went up in flames in the town of Glarus, Switzerland. Two-thirds of the town was reduced to rubble and ashes and 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 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. Its initial capital 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 at the time of 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.It acquired the GE Insurance Solutions property/casualty business in 2006, which made Swiss Reinsurance Co. the world's largest reinsurer.In 2009 Warren Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's equity capital raise after Swiss Re lost 6 billion francs in its financial market operations in the Global Financial Crisis. 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 CAD10 billion, with Swiss Re having the most exposure among reinsurers.Swiss Re's Admin Re subsidiary began with the acquisition on 1 July 2004 of Life Assurance Holding Corporation in the UK. On 31 October 2008, Swiss Re completed a £762 million acquisition of Barclays PLC's subsidiary Barclays Life Assurance Company Ltd. 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 February 2022, it was announced Swiss Re had acquired Champlain Reinsurance Company , a Swiss-based run-off reinsurance captive of Alcan Holdings Switzerland AG, a member of Rio Tinto Alcan, in a legacy transaction. Later that month, Swiss Re declared a net profit of US$1.6 billion, in a bounce back from previous losses in 2020. Still, the exposure to COVID-19 in America was excessive; together with increased damages from natural catastrophes, profits were well below the US$1.8 billion estimate. Swiss Re was able to make up for some of its losses due to its increased property business. At the same time, the board of directors assured investors that the company is only minimally exposed to losses during the Ukraine crisis.

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