Swiss Re News

World’s Largest Asset Owners Pledge to Halve Emissions in Portfolios by 2030

A group of the world’s largest asset owners managing $10.4 trillion said on Tuesday they would step up their response to climate change and aimed to at least halve carbon emissions from their investment portfolios by 2030. The 69 members …

Net-Zero Insurers’ Climate-Friendly Plans to Exit Coal Impeded by Antitrust Laws

A group of the world’s biggest insurers and reinsurers jointly pledging to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their underwriting activities have run into an unexpected opponent of their planet-friendly mission: competition law. The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, which counts AXA SA, …

Global Life Insurers Adapt Pandemic Risk Models After Unexpected Jump in Claims

A coronavirus pandemic which lasts five years, another pandemic in a decade, and ever more transmissible variants are among the scenarios life insurers are predicting after COVID-19 claims jumped more than expected in 2021. The global life insurance industry was …

FWD Group Withdraws U.S. IPO Plan, Pivoting Instead to Hong Kong

FWD Group Ltd., the Hong Kong-based insurer backed by billionaire Richard Li, withdrew its U.S. initial public offering as China tightens its grip on overseas listings. The company said in a filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission …

Swiss Re Reorganizes Group Operations, Names Ladva Group CTO, as Bronder Exits

Swiss Re announced the appointment of Pravina Ladva as group chief digital & technology officer and member of the group executive committee, effective Jan. 1, 2022. Group Chief Operating Officer Anette Bronder will leave the company, and group operations will …

Extreme Weather in 2021 Brings Above-Average Claims to Global Insurers: Swiss Re

Extreme weather events in 2021, including a deep winter freeze, floods, severe thunderstorms, heatwaves and a major hurricane, resulted in estimated annual insured losses from natural catastrophes of US$105 billion, the fourth highest since 1970, according to Swiss Re Institute’s …

Swiss Re-Backed FWD Raises $1.4 Billion, Weighs Hong Kong IPO

Billionaire Richard Li’s FWD Group Ltd. raised more than $1.4 billion in private placements with investors including an insurer backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. The investors include Apollo’s Athene Holding Ltd., Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Siam Commercial Bank …

Reinsurer Says U.S. Should Regulate $17 Billion Litigation Funding Industry

Litigation funding has become a $17 billion industry globally, with 52% of that money being spent in the United States, Swiss Re said in a recent report. The reinsurer said third-party litigation funding (TPLF) is increasing the number of “outsize” …

Swiss Re to Sell elipsLife to Swiss Life, Enters Long-Term Reinsurance Partnership

Swiss Re announced it has agreed to sell its life insurance subsidiary Elips Life AG (elipsLife) to Swiss Life International and to enter into a long-term reinsurance partnership for elipsLife’s in-force and new business. Financial details of the transaction were …

Activist Group Calls on Insurers to Sue Oil Companies for Climate Damages

FRANKFURT – A prominent activist is calling on insurers like Swiss Re to explore suing major oil companies for climate-related damages, the latest volley in a years-long campaign that pits environmentalists against the insurance industry. The tactic urged by The …