About this report

Scope and requirements

This Financial Condition Report (Report or Financial Condition Report) is a mandatory public disclosure for Swiss regulated re/insurance entities required by FINMA Circular 2016/2 Disclosure – insurers (Circular). The publication requirements are set forth in the Circular. This Report includes qualitative and quantitative information on business activities, performance, risk management and the Swiss Solvency Test (SST) of the Swiss Re Group (Group) as well as its Swiss-regulated re/insurance entities: Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd and Swiss Re Life Capital Reinsurance Ltd. A large part of the required information included in the Report is available in other public disclosures provided by Swiss Re, such as the Group’s Financial Report, which is part of the Annual Report available under www.swissre.com/investors/financial_information/. Readers of this Report should in addition consult these public disclosures. Information not included in other publicly available disclosures can be found mainly in the valuation and solvency sections of this Report.

As per the transitional rules in the Circular, the 2016 Financial Condition Report was submitted to FINMA, but was not publicly disclosed.

Cautionary note

The preparation of the SST requires management to make a number of estimates and assumptions. The valuation of assets and liabilities reflects best estimates of underlying cash flows (eg premiums, claims, commissions, expenses, etc), using models and taking into consideration all relevant information available at the balance sheet date. In line with other valuation methods based on projections of future cash flows, economic valuations involve significant judgement when establishing which assumptions to use. The Group and its Swiss-regulated re/insurance entities actively and carefully review assumptions, selecting those that are considered most appropriate and seeking consistency among business activities. Valuations are updated at each balance sheet date as experience develops and more information becomes available. In-force business assets and liabilities include estimates for premiums as well as claims and benefit payments not yet received from ceding companies at the balance sheet date. In addition, the Group and its Swiss-regulated re/insurance entities have certain assets and liabilities for which liquid market prices do not exist.

All of the foregoing estimates are determined on a market-consistent basis using all relevant information available at the time of valuation. However, actual results could differ significantly from these estimates.

Please see also the Cautionary note on forward-looking statements and the Note on risk factors in this Report.

Accounting and risk basis

The financial information included in this Report is based on the following accounting frameworks:

  • The consolidated financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP).
  • The statutory financial statements of Swiss-regulated legal entities are prepared in accordance with Swiss law.
  • The SST information uses Swiss Re’s internal model which has been approved by FINMA. The internal Economic Value Management (EVM) framework is the basis for preparing the SST balance sheets as both frameworks are based on market-consistent valuation principles. Valuation differences between EVM and SST mainly affect capital costs and deferred taxes. EVM is the Group proprietary integrated economic valuation and steering framework, consistently measuring economic performance across all businesses.

The risk exposure basis for SST is a projection for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 and is based on the economic balance sheet as of 31 December 2017 and adjustments to reflect 1 January 2018 business shifts. All comparative information is based on the SST Report 2017 filed with FINMA in April 2017.

The reported solvency information for 2018 is consistent with the information provided in the SST Report 2018 filed with FINMA.

Tail Value at Risk (Tail VaR) information for risk categories and stress tests in the 2017 Financial Report is as of 31 December 2017, while risk categories and total risk in SST include 1 January 2018 renewals.

Audit

This Report has not been audited. The US GAAP financial statements of the Group and the statutory financial statements of Swiss Re Ltd and its Swiss regulated re/insurance entities are audited. Please refer to the audit reports accompanying those financial statements and referred to in this Report.