Swiss Re was born out of a catastrophe, when in 1861 hundreds of houses in Glarus burned down. Helvetia, Credit Suisse and Basler Handelsbank, a predecessor of UBS, decided to set up a reinsurer. Swiss Re is now number two in the world in the sector and is chaired by the former boss of UBS, Sergio Ermotti. On Friday, he presented a net recovery in the first half of the year. Thanks to the progress of the non-life branches, the profit reached 1.05 billion dollars, after a loss of 1.13 billion last year at the same time. But the stock fell on Friday and has been down since the start of the year. Is Swiss Re doing too much in terms of sustainability and too little in financial terms?
The catastrophe analysis prompted the reinsurer to look at global warming and its consequences very early on. As early as 1979, global warming was considered a risk by the group, indicates Christian Mumenthaler, CEO, winner of the Green Business CEO 2021 awarded by Balance sheet. If the group, with its $ 40.8 billion in premium income for 13,189 employees (including 3,530 in Switzerland), correctly assesses the risks of floods, droughts or earthquakes, past and future, its premiums will be all the more precise. This is the only guarantee of success in reinsurance, that is to say the insurance of insurance companies.
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