The Swiss in­sur­ance mar­ket

06 October 2022

The Swiss insurance market comprises five branches: life insurers, non-life insurers, supplementary health insurers, reinsurers and captives. Non-life insurers make up what is by far the largest branch in terms of number. Captives are insurers that belong to an individual person or a group of companies that are not active in the insurance business themselves and that only cover the risks of their owners.

Insurers in Switzerland at 31 December
  2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Life insurance companies 17 19 19 19 19
Property and casualty insurance companies 118 116 118 114 118
Supplementary health insurance 10 10 11 12 12
Reinsurance companies 24 25 25 27 28
Captive insurance companies 24 25 25 27 27
Total 193 195 198 199 204
of which companies with offices in Switzerland 142 145 149 149 156
of which branches of foreign insurance companies 51 50 49 49 48

 

The majority of insurers supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) are members of the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA). Overall, the member companies of the SIA account for around 85 per cent of all insurance premiums generated in the Swiss market.

SIA membership as of January 2021
SIA members’ share of total premium revenue in 2021 *  
of which life insurance 93%
of which P & C insurance 73%
of which reinsurance 87%

* 100% = all insurance companies supervised by FINMA

 

Many primary insurers based or headquartered in Switzerland operate exclusively in Switzerland. The situation is different for reinsurers, which generate the majority of their premium volume abroad.

Global premium volume 2021 generated by the largest private insurers headquartered/located in Switzerland in CHF billion (gross premiums)
Insurers Switzerland Total
Zurich Insurance Group 4,3 61,8
Chubb 0,1 41,7
Swiss Life 9,4 19,8
AXA Winterthur 5,3 5,3
Helvetia 4,5 9,8
Bâloise 4,2 7,5
Die Mobiliar 4,1 4,1
Allianz Suisse 3,6 3,6
Helsana-Gruppe (VVG+UVG) 1,9 1,9
Generali Schweiz 1,8 1,8
Reinsurer Switzerland Total
Swiss Re 1,0 39,4
New Reinsurance Company Ltd 0,3 2,6
Catlin Re 0,2 1,6

 Source: Annual reports 2021, FINMA