Economics

Why can’t a pan­dem­ic be in­sured by pri­vate in­sur­ers alone? Our lat­est ex­plana­to­ry video shows the rea­sons. 

The Swiss gov­ern­ment is cur­rent­ly work­ing on a ‘pool so­lu­tion’ to cush­ion the eco­nom­ic im­pact of fu­ture pan­demics. Ivo Men­zinger has worked on the pos­si­ble struc­tures for the so­lu­tion.

In­sur­ers are ma­jor in­sti­tu­tion­al in­vestors with a long-term in­vest­ment hori­zon and a pref­er­ence for safe­ty.

Swiss pri­vate in­sur­ers are ma­jor tax­pay­ers and, as such, make a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to the coun­try's pulic sec­tor.

Pop­u­la­tion growth, glob­al mo­bil­i­ty or eco­log­i­cal changes in­crease the risk of pan­demics. Is pan­dem­ic risk in­sur­able? The an­swer is, on­ly with gov­er­nance par­tic­i­pa­tion.

Our lives in 2020 are dom­i­nat­ed by the coro­na cri­sis. Nonethe­less, sus­tain­abil­i­ty and re­form of the pen­sion sys­tem re­main cen­tral chal­lenges that we must con­tin­ue to ad­dress.

The need for safe­ty is a fun­da­men­tal hu­man need. The Swiss are a very safe­ty-mind­ed na­tion, spend­ing more mon­ey on in­sur­ance than any oth­er.

Switzer­land counts 205 non-life, life and re-in­sur­ers with some 50,000 em­ploy­ees.

In­sur­ance com­pa­nies are ma­jor em­ploy­ers, sig­nif­i­cant tax­pay­ers and among the largest in­vestors in Switzer­land and abroad.