Swiss Re: Everything you need to know
Founded: 1863
Headquartered: Zurich, Switzerland
Global offices: 80
Employees: 14,500
Net premiums written and fee income (US millions; H1 2019): $18,160
The Swiss Re Group is a leading global provider of reinsurance and insurance, as well as other types of insurance-based risk transfer. Swiss Re has several key business units, including reinsurance (which the company has been engaged with since its founding in the 1800s), corporate solutions (its commercial insurance arm), life capital (where it focuses on the primary insurance market), and public sector solutions (which is dedicated to collaborating with governments, public sector entities, and multilateral organisations).
Meanwhile, the Swiss Re Institute injects thought leadership into the insurance industry, with the group producing data-driven research alongside partner organisations.
Swiss Re in the news
April 2018: Swiss Re offers details on investment plans
July 2018: Swiss Re Capital Markets places $350 million catastrophe bond
August 2018: Swiss Re promotes executive to head up EMEA
November 2018: Swiss Re on the role of M&A in its business model
December 2018: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions names head of excess & surplus
February 2019: Swiss Re secures net income leap despite catastrophe hit
February 2019: Swiss Re confirms it is on the acquisition hunt
July 2019: Swiss Re shows strong 2019 half-year performance
August 2019: Swiss Re subsidiary seals $515 million deal
September 2019: More rate increases required for a sustainable reinsurance market - Swiss Re
October 2019: Swiss Re partners up to launch new telematics tool for risk assessment
October 2019: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions announces collaboration to build a multinational insurance program management platform for Brokerslink
Key people as of 2019
Christian Mumenthaler – Group chief executive officer
Mumenthaler began his career in 1997 as an associate with the Boston Consulting Group. He came over to the ‘insurance side’ when he joined Swiss Re in 1999. There, he was initially responsible for key company projects before he established and headed the group retro and syndication unit in 2002.
Mumenthaler held the position of group chief risk officer between 2005 and 2007, later heading life & health between 2007 and 2010. In January 2011, he was appointed chief marketing officer for reinsurance and a member of the group executive committee, and the year finished off with Mumenthaler becoming CEO of reinsurance that October. Finally, in July 2016, Mumenthaler was appointed the group’s chief executive officer.
Culture
Swiss Re has a strong focus on resiliency. That means providing solutions for sustainability, investing responsibly, reducing the group’s footprint, and being transparent. Recent solutions that particularly target the insurance gap that exists in many segments and markets, including developing a telematics product that provides insurers with better and more personalised risk assessment.
“Swiss Re is working with partners across the industry on new digital insurance solutions that will help us close the protection gap in all lines of business,” said Eric Shuh, global head of property and casualty at Swiss Re. “Together, we explore new opportunities to solve challenges that span the insurance value chain, expand the footprint of insurance, and make insurance more affordable and available, while better engaging customers.”
On the catastrophe side, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions enhanced its online portal, PULSE, with a new function that delivers real-time natural catastrophe event notifications to clients in October 2019. The new catastrophe notification function is powered by EigenRisk, via EigenPrism APIs, and ensures that each customer on the PULSE platform has the information they need at the right time, a release said. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions is also utilising the EigenPrism platform for exposure management, risk analytics, and real-time event response.
“Automated event alerts give the estimated impact for each customer within minutes of it occurring,” explained Swiss Re Corporate Solutions head of natural catastrophes Stefan Wunderlich. “Enabled in partnership with EigenRisk, this feature bridges technology, data and risk-knowledge to add to our customers’ peace of mind.”
Tech-enabled solutions are also coming down the pike on the reinsurance side. Swiss Re in the past has released several new product developments amid growing demand for innovative reinsurance solutions.
“Insurers are rethinking their business models to tap into new opportunities and better service the end-consumer,” said Swiss Re Group CEO Mumenthaler. “The reinsurance industry can help them with ready-to-use services and solutions that address growth and profitability. At the same time, innovative solutions help the industry make progress towards closing the ever-growing global protection gap.”
He added: “As we have seen again in the aftermath of recent floods in the US following Hurricane Harvey, as well as devastating flooding in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, the protection gap is very real and needs to be tackled with solutions that make insurance both more widely and more easily available.”
