Swiss Re

 

Headquarters address

Mythenquai 50, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland

Year established

1863
Size (employees) 14,700+
Global locations Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
Insurance revenue

 US$43.1 billion (2025)

Underwriting expertise Property & casualty, life & health reinsurance
Key people

 Andreas Berger (CEO), Matthias Grass (chief financial officer), Markus Stiefel (chief operations officer), Kera McDonald (chief underwriting officer), Marc Scheidegger (chief claims officer), Marc Werder (chief innovation & transformation officer), Nina Arquint regional CEO EMEA), Katie McGrath (CEO North America), Jonathan Rake (regional CEO APAC), Angelo Colombo (CEO Latin America), Annette Kurtzweil (CRO)

About Swiss Re

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.

Leadership at Swiss Re

Andreas Berger – Group chief executive officer

Andreas Berger was as group chief executive officer of Swiss Re in July 2024. He joined the reinsurer in March 2019 as CEO of corporate solutions and a member of the group executive committee. Prior to this, he held leadership roles at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS), including Chief Regions & Market Officer and CEO of the Regional Unit London. 

Berger began his insurance career in 1995 at Gerling Group and later worked at Boston Consulting Group. He holds master's degrees in law from Justus Liebig University Giessen and in Business Administration from Université de Paris-Dauphine and Justus Liebig University Giessen. His appointment follows the tenure of Christian Mumenthaler, who served as group CEO since 2016.

Culture at Swiss Re

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.

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.

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.”

A major catastrophe can shut down businesses that never took a scratch, HDI expert says
HDI’s Ian Rutherford says clients lured away by very low pricing from non-Canadian markets tend to come back within a year or two
A major catastrophe can shut down businesses that never took a scratch, HDI expert says
2026 is now the hottest year on record - and the protection gap is wider than ever
With El Niño persisting into 2027 and insured losses rising 5-7% annually, brokers placing property in exposed markets are under growing pressure
2026 is now the hottest year on record - and the protection gap is wider than ever
Clients should reinvest soft market savings in resilience, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions exec says
James Gasco says shared supply chains and cloud services mean a single event can now ripple across many clients at once
Clients should reinvest soft market savings in resilience, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions exec says
Swiss Re books US$4.2bn profit as P&C pipeline compresses
Strong in-force earnings mask a 28% drop in new P&C reinsurance business margins
Swiss Re books US$4.2bn profit as P&C pipeline compresses
Too many B.C. property owners still lack earthquake cover, HDI exec warns
HDI’s Ian Rutherford says a 10% earthquake deductible on a $50 million building means $5 million out of pocket, and owners need to ask whether they could fund it
Too many B.C. property owners still lack earthquake cover, HDI exec warns
Cyber risk on renewable sites is a property risk too, Northbridge underwriter says
Storage and hydrogen projects push underwriters to weigh design and operator experience
Cyber risk on renewable sites is a property risk too, Northbridge underwriter says
HDI Global promotes Sheena Williams to lead sport, leisure and entertainment globally
Williams, who joined HDI in 2019, will connect the insurer’s sport, leisure and entertainment expertise across its international offices
HDI Global promotes Sheena Williams to lead sport, leisure and entertainment globally
SME cyber insurance uptake stalls in Canada and everywhere except the US
Penetration sits near 10% in most markets while the US runs at triple that and awareness is not why
SME cyber insurance uptake stalls in Canada and everywhere except the US
Are insurers fudging the numbers on climate risk?
OSFI flagged the climate mortgage risk that insurance insiders are now warning about
Are insurers fudging the numbers on climate risk?
Renewable operators underestimate how long a loss keeps them offline, Northbridge underwriter says
Bryan Kent says many renewable projects start selling power before construction is finished, so a loss during commissioning can cost revenue as well as delay the build
Renewable operators underestimate how long a loss keeps them offline, Northbridge underwriter says
Free newsletter

Our daily newsletter is FREE and keeps you up - to - date with the world of Insurance. Please complete the form below and click on subscribe for daily newsletters from IB CA.