Capitalising on change: How Swiss Re has built a global firm
Swiss Re has undertaken almost as much change in the last twenty years as it did in the previous 120, since its foundation in 1863. The publication Capitalising on change: How Swiss Re has built a global firm chronicles those changes and portrays the people behind them.
The publication follows Swiss Re on its journey into a diverse range of insurance activities and risk management services before returning to its roots, resulting in Swiss Re becoming the global firm focusing on reinsurance that it now is. In particular, it illustrates the challenges of keeping a strategy relevant and focu-sed against the backdrop of a continually changing external environment.
The strategic path
This account of Swiss Re’s recent history starts in the mid 1980s. At that time, the reinsurance sector witnessed structural changes and strong competition from diversifying primary insurers and the new captive insurers. Swiss Re responded to these developments by diversifying its activities to include substantial interests in primary insurance and risk management services companies.
A decade later, following an upswing in the reinsurance sector, Swiss Re divested its holdings in direct insurance and refocused its activities on core reinsurance business. From the mid 1990s onwards, the company achieved pronounced growth in its life and health portfolio, expansion into emerging insurance markets and a strengthening of its capabilities to provide sophisticated solutions to large corporate clients.
The people
Through all of these changes there has been a constant theme: the pursuit of excellence. Crucial to this endeavour are the skills of our staff, therefore Swiss Re’s history is also about its people, how they have lived through change and helped build the global company we know today.
