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Report from the Compensation Committee

Dear shareholders

I am pleased to present the Report of the Compensation Committee and would like to take this opportunity to recognise my predecessor, Robert A. Scott, for his valued contribution to the Committee’s work over the past years.

The Compensation Committee continues to review and monitor the compensation framework at Swiss Re in light of business needs, regulatory requirements and market developments. There were no material changes during this reporting year to compensation governance and principles, which were largely maintained as described in previous years and are outlined in the following chapters.

The compensation structure too, has not changed. In addition to market competitive base salaries, pensions and benefits, Swiss Re continues to reward employee performance through proven incentives: variable cash compensation that rewards results achieved in the previous performance year, with performance over a three-year period reflected in a deferred cash component. As in the past, a select number of key senior employees are also granted a forward-looking long-term award, that provides incentive for sustainable and successful performance.

We are continuing to implement the changes to the compensation framework outlined in last year’s report; we provide an update on these under “Key developments - Activities in 2012”.

US GAAP and Economic Value Management (EVM) based business results continue to be the main drivers for variable compensation. While the 2011 business results based on EVM led to a downward adjustment to incentive pools and executive management compensation, the strong 2012 business performance positively influences incentive compensation for 2012.

As always, the Compensation Committee works continuously to gauge and improve its own effectiveness. It also continues to maintain a sustained interaction with the swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, as well as monitoring other regulatory developments including Solvency II and Swiss corporate law.

The Compensation Committee is satisfied that this Compensation Report provides a comprehensive view of the compensation framework at Swiss Re. In addition, the Compensation Report provides compensation disclosure for 2012. The Report is divided into four sections:


Zurich, 14 March 2013

Signature – C. Robert Henrikson (signature)

C. Robert Henrikson
Chairman of the Compensation Committee