The Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) represents the interests of the private insurance industry at the national and international level. The association comprises about 70 primary insurers and reinsurers and employs a workforce of 47,000 in Switzerland. Overall, the member companies of the SIA account for about 85 per cent of insurance premiums generated in the Swiss market. This makes the insurance industry and thus the SIA a major force in the Swiss economy. Private insurers are therefore committed to the successful and sustainable development of the areas in which they operate, both in business and in social and political terms, and thus assume economic responsibility.
The SIA has reported on the sector’s sustainability performance annually since 2020. This report relates to the activities of the SIA and the insurance industry in 2021. It was produced in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. It is the combined, consolidated, non-financial report for the association and the vast majority of the Swiss insurance companies involved in the SIA. It describes the results achieved in key economic, environmental, social and governance areas. The report centres around the topics that were identified as being particularly important for the industry’s business activities and stakeholders in the materiality assessment conducted in 2021 (see section 3.2 ‘Stakeholder dialogue’ for more information).
The consolidated data in this report was collected at company level, and as with the 2020 sustainability report, it relates to the majority of Swiss insurance companies. This scope applies to all areas of the report unless explicitly stated otherwise in relation to a particular section.
The data collected on investments, occupational environmental management and cooperation for sustainable development relates to the period 1 January 2021–31 December 2021 (except for Scor and Swiss Re, which have a different financial year). The reference date for the employment statistics cited in the section ‘The world of work’ was 31 December 2021. The following table shows the number of reporting entities or companies, the period in which the data was collected and other relevant notes on the respective sections.
| Sec. | Title | Number of reporting entities / companies | Data collection period | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Investment | 42 of 58 entities surveyed | December 2021 to March 2022 | The reporting companies together manage 77 per cent of all investments made by the private insurance industry. |
| 8 | Operational environmental management | 37 of 56 entities surveyed | January 2021 to February 2022 | For subject areas for which no quantitative information is available from the member companies, qualitative information is provided on the challenges and measures in the insurance industry. Not all companies included their sales forces. |
| 9 | The world of work | 93 companies | 31.12.2021 (reference date) | The employee information is based on the SIA’s employment statistics for 2021, as published in May 2022. |
| 11 | Collaboration for sustainable development | 42 of 58 entities surveyed | December 2021 to March 2022 |
The Sustainability Report 2021 is available in German, French and English.