Knowledge and expertise

Swiss Re’s success is based on the knowledge, experience and creativity of its employees. Generating and deploying expertise is a mindset reflected in many aspects of the company, from its Corporate Philosophy to its brand.

Swiss Re’s experts

Swiss Re is a knowledge company: its essential skills are embodied in its workforce. The company aims to attract, develop and retain the most qualified, talented and motivated professionals in the field. Reflecting its activities in risk transfer, risk finance and asset management, Swiss Re’s employees are drawn from a broad spectrum of disciplines, and include actuaries and accountants, economists, engineers, lawyers, IT specialists, natural scientists, pharmacists, veterinary surgeons, and many more.

A truly international working environment and the company’s commitment to professional development make Swiss Re an attractive employer. Swiss Re conducts business from more than 30 countries; this diversity is matched by the wide variety of nationalities represented among its employees. Through its experts, Swiss Re systematically screens business relevant information and fosters knowledge sharing. Between 1998 and 2003, Swiss Re established 13 internal “Knowledge Networks” designed to further stimulate the exchange of valuable expertise and innovation across various functions within the Group.

Sharing Swiss Re’s expertise

Swiss Re attaches great importance to researching issues that may have an impact on the risk landscape and strives to translate its findings into new or enhanced products and services. This is achieved through several channels: Swiss Re’s Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon, a wide range of publications, and third party research which Swiss Re commissions and makes available to interested Stakeholders.

In 2003, Swiss Re’s Centre for Global Dialogue hosted a number of industry gatherings and some high level stakeholder conferences including a conference on insurance-linked securities. The event was aimed primarily at institutional investors, enabling Swiss Re to build on its global leadership position in this innovative area – one that promises to extend the traditional limits of insurability. The Centre for Global Dialogue was the venue for the International Biotechnology Forum, focusing principally on issues of risk perception and public concern surrounding genetic engineering. The Centre also joined forces with Avenir Suisse, a Swiss think tank for social and economic development, and the Geneva Association, an international association for the study of insurance economics, to host a conference on “The Economics of an Ageing Society: The Future of Funded Systems”.

Swiss Re’s sigma publishing series, available at www.swissre.com, is another channel through which the company disseminates industry expertise. In 2003, these publications covered a variety of topical and strategic questions and included an important analysis of the systemic risk posed by the reinsurance industry. The study found that there was virtually no evidence to support the claim that reinsurance represents a systemic risk and concluded that financial distress encountered by individual reinsurers was highly unlikely to trigger a contagion effect comparable to that observed during crises of confidence in banks.

Swiss Re’s Chief Underwriting Office regularly produces publications on a wide range of topics that generate significant expert and public interest. In 2003, these publications, which are also available from Swiss Re’s website, included an in-depth analysis of terrorism from a risk management perspective, special reports on large dams and prion infection, and studies on nuclear risks in property insurance, insurance aspects of gas turbomachines and the insurability of ecological damage. They also provided insight into lines of business such as marine insurance.

Swiss Re was active as a sponsor of third party research in 2003, including a major joint project with the Harvard Medical School and the United Nations Development Programme, dedicated to assessing the impact of climate change on public health. Another project, conducted by the US Geological Survey, assessed the probability of a major Tokyo earthquake. More recently, Beijing Normal University and Swiss Re jointly published an atlas on natural disasters in China. Such activities enhance Swiss Re’s internal knowledge base, further position the company as a global leader in managing capital and risk and help the company meet its corporate social responsibilities.