Business activities

Business information

For information on the Group strategy, please see the section “Our strategy” in the 2017 Financial Report on pages 26 and 27.

For information on the Group structure and shareholders, please see the Group structure and shareholders section in the 2017 Financial Report on pages 98–100.

For information on net premiums earned and fee income from policyholders by geography, see Note 2 to the financial statements included in the 2017 Financial Report on page 208.

For information on the Group’s  main subsidiaries and equity investees, see Note 19 to the financial statements included in the 2017 Financial Report on pages 281–283.

For information on the Group’s use of special purpose vehicles, see Note 20 to the financial statements (Variable interest entities) included in the 2017 Financial Report on pages 284–288.

Significant events

In October 2017, Swiss Re reached an agreement with MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc (MS&AD) for an investment of up to GBP 800 million into ReAssure, for up to a three-year period from closing and with a maximum shareholding of 15%. On 23 January 2018, after ReAssure obtained regulatory approval for the transaction, MS&AD acquired a 5% stake in ReAssure (via a parent company) for GBP 175 million and subscribed for additional shares for GBP 330 million. On 28 February 2018, MS&AD subscribed for additional shares for GBP 82 million. These three investments now result in a total shareholding in ReAssure by MS&AD of 15%.

In line with SST recognition principles, a minority interest in ReAssure is reflected for the first two investments made by MS&AD in the calculation of the Group’s SST 2018.

Effective 1 January 2018, ReAssure entered into an agreement with L&G to acquire 1.1 million policies for GBP 650 million. It is intended that the reinsured polices will be transferred to ReAssure at a future date by way of a Part VII transfer under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, subject to regulatory approval.

In line with SST recognition principles, this transaction is reflected in the Group’s SST 2018.

For further information on significant events and acquisitions, please refer to the Information policy section on pages 134 and 135 and the Note 10 to the financial statements (Acquisitions) included in the 2017 Financial Report on page 259.

Report of the statutory auditors

PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd is the auditor of Swiss Re Ltd and its subsidiaries. For more information on Swiss Re´s auditors, please see the section Auditors” in the 2017 Financial Report on pages 132 and 133. The audit report of the statutory auditor can be found in the 2017 Financial report on pages 290–294.