Reinsurance enables insurance companies to be insured. Switzerland is one of the world’s largest headquarters thanks to its reinsurance center located in the financial center of Zurich. Swiss reinsurance companies are characterized by global activities and very high productivity, which strengthens Swiss exports. In 2020, their added value amounted to 4.8 billion francs, i.e. almost a fifth of the total added value of insurance. The real economic output of reinsurance has more than tripled since 2000. These are the main conclusions of the study carried out by BAK Economics on behalf of the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA).

Reinsurance insures the risks of life, non-life and health insurance and thus contributes to their stability. This is why they are called the “insurance companies of insurance companies”. They operate worldwide from Switzerland, as their business model is based on diversifying risks on a global scale to insure even large and complex cases such as natural disasters. Reinsurance thus strengthens Switzerland’s export base. In 2021, gross premiums written by Swiss reinsurance companies amounted to 45.6 billion Swiss francs, of which 19.4 billion in Europe, 17.3 billion in North America and 6.7 billion in the Asia-Pacific region.

Switzerland is one of the most important places for reinsurance in the world thanks to its reinsurance platform located in the financial center of Zurich. In terms of premium volume, Switzerland is the third largest reinsurer after the US and Germany. The main success factors are access to reinsurance markets worldwide, the regulatory environment, the availability of specialists and political and macroeconomic stability.

Swiss reinsurance companies have above-average productivity and generated gross growth of CHF 4.8 billion in 2020, which corresponds to about one fifth of insurance’s total added value. Over the past 20 years, reinsurance has more than tripled its real economic output. This means that the sector has grown much stronger than insurance sectors that focus on the domestic market. Also in the future, the reinsurance sector will benefit from the rapid growth in foreign markets and therefore has favorable development opportunities.