History of Reinsurance
Incorporated: 1863
NAIC: 52413 Reinsurance Carriers
Schweizerische Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft, known as Swiss Reinsurance Company, or Swiss Re in English-speaking countries, is the oldest professional reinsurance firm in Switzerland and one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world. It is notable for the range of its international activities, the fine reputation of the services it offers, and its powerful financial base. The company's main business segments include risk transfer, risk retention financing, and asset management. Swiss Re operates with over 70 offices in 30 countries across the globe.
Professional reinsurance began in the 1840s in Cologne, where the first company specializing in this kind of insurance was set up in 1846. Switzerland was the first country outside Germany to take up the idea, which was put into effect when the Swiss Reinsurance Company was founded. The Swiss have contributed to the development of reinsurance by providing it with a theoretical foundation, as well as by taking the first steps towards internationalization and setting an early example of how to survive through times of crisis.
The insurance industry got well under way in Switzerland soon after the middle of the 19th century. The moving spirit was Alfred Escher, statesman and entrepreneur, who laid the foundation of Zürich's development as a financial center with the establishment of the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt. In 1857, it played a decisive part in the creation of the Schweizerische Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt, the first major life insurance company in Switzerland. The evolution of fire insurance in Switzerland was given impetus by a conflagration in the cantonal capital of Glarus on May 10 and 11, 1861. With victims receiving very little in the way of compensation payment, the disaster exposed the deficiencies of existing insurance arrangements. On November 7, 1861, there was a general meeting of the Allgemeine Versicherungs-Gesellschaft
NAIC: 52413 Reinsurance Carriers
Schweizerische Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft, known as Swiss Reinsurance Company, or Swiss Re in English-speaking countries, is the oldest professional reinsurance firm in Switzerland and one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world. It is notable for the range of its international activities, the fine reputation of the services it offers, and its powerful financial base. The company's main business segments include risk transfer, risk retention financing, and asset management. Swiss Re operates with over 70 offices in 30 countries across the globe.
Professional reinsurance began in the 1840s in Cologne, where the first company specializing in this kind of insurance was set up in 1846. Switzerland was the first country outside Germany to take up the idea, which was put into effect when the Swiss Reinsurance Company was founded. The Swiss have contributed to the development of reinsurance by providing it with a theoretical foundation, as well as by taking the first steps towards internationalization and setting an early example of how to survive through times of crisis.
The insurance industry got well under way in Switzerland soon after the middle of the 19th century. The moving spirit was Alfred Escher, statesman and entrepreneur, who laid the foundation of Zürich's development as a financial center with the establishment of the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt. In 1857, it played a decisive part in the creation of the Schweizerische Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt, the first major life insurance company in Switzerland. The evolution of fire insurance in Switzerland was given impetus by a conflagration in the cantonal capital of Glarus on May 10 and 11, 1861. With victims receiving very little in the way of compensation payment, the disaster exposed the deficiencies of existing insurance arrangements. On November 7, 1861, there was a general meeting of the Allgemeine Versicherungs-Gesellschaft