Share performance

Swiss Re shares

Swiss Re had a market capitalisation of CHF 30.5 billion on 31 December 2018, with 338.6 million shares outstanding, of which 300.0 million were entitled to dividends. Swiss Re shares are listed in accordance with the International Reporting Standard on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX) and are traded under the ticker symbol SREN.

General information on Swiss Re shares

American Depositary Receipts (ADR)

In the US, Swiss Re maintains an ADR level I programme (OTC symbol SSREY).

Share price performance

Swiss Re shares opened the year at CHF 92.24. An intra-day high of CHF 98.80 was achieved on 27 February 2018. On 27 June 2018, the shares experienced an intra-day low of CHF 84.20. The year-end share price was CHF 90.12.

During 2018, the STOXX Europe 600 Insurance index (SXIP) decreased by 10.3% and the broader index of Swiss blue chips (SMI) decreased by 10.2%. The Swiss Re share decreased by 1.2%.

Share trading

The average on-exchange daily trading volume for 2018 was 1.2 million shares. Trading volume peaked at 5.3 million shares on 8 February 2018.

Swiss Re’s dividend policy

Swiss Re’s dividend policy is a central element of Swiss Re’s capital management priorities.

The Group aims to ensure superior capitalisation at all times and to maximise financial flexibility, growing the regular dividend with long-term earnings and, at a minimum, maintaining it. Swiss Re will then deploy capital for business growth where it meets its strategy and profitability requirements and finally repatriate further excess capital to shareholders, with the preferred form of future capital repatriation being share buy-back programmes.

Dividends are typically paid out of current earnings and Swiss Re pays its dividend annually. Shares are ex-dividend two working days after the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Dividend payment is typically two working days after the ex-dividend date. The corresponding dates in 2019 are 23 and 25 April.

Dividends

The Board of Directors proposes a regular dividend of CHF 5.60 per share for 2018. The dividend paid for 2018 will be subject to 35% Swiss withholding tax.

Public share buy-back programme

On 7 May 2018, the Board of Directors launched the public share buy-back programme authorised by the 2018 AGM. This programme was completed on 15 February 2019.

For further information please visit www.swissre.com/investors/shares/share_buyback/

The Board of Directors proposes to the 2019 AGM to authorise the company to repurchase own shares for the purpose of cancellation by way of a public share buy-back programme to be executed in two tranches before the 2020 AGM. The first tranche of up to CHF 1.0 billion would commence at the discretion of the Board shortly after the 2019 AGM pre-approval. The second tranche of up to CHF 1.0 billion will be conditional on the 2019 development of the Group’s excess capital position, for example a significant increase upon successful reduction of Swiss Re’s holding in ReAssure to below 50%.

Swiss Re will ask the AGM in April 2020 permission to cancel the repurchased shares by way of share capital reduction.

Index representation

In addition to its relevant industry indices, Swiss Re is also represented in various Swiss, European and global indices, including the SMI and the SXIP. Swiss Re is also a member of various sustainability indices, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe, FTSE4Good, Euronext Vigeo World 120, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, MSCI ESG Leaders and MSCI Global Socially Responsible (2019) index families. In May 2019, Swiss Re received a AAA rating on the MSCI ESG assessment.

Weighting in indices

Information for investors

More information is available on Swiss Re’s website: www.swissre.com/investors

Key share statistics 2014–2018