Founded: 1872 as Versicherungs-Verein
Incorporated: 2000
NAIC: 524126 Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers; 524113 Direct Life Insurance Carriers; 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies
SIC: 6331 Fire, Marine & Casualty Insurance; 6351 Surety Insurance; 6311 Life Insurance; 6719 Holding Companies Nec
Zurich Financial Services is one of the biggest insurance firms based in Europe. One of the largest property and casualty insurers in the world, serving both individual and commercial customers, Zurich has strong positions in this sector in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and several other markets. Overall, what the group calls its General Insurance business operates through a network encompassing more than 150 countries throughout the world. Zurich's Global Life business offers life insurance, annuities, and other investment products to individuals in Europe, the United States, and numerous emerging markets. Although Zurich's history ultimately dates back to 1872, its incarnation as Zurich Financial Services stems from the 1998 merger of Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Company and the financial services operations of U.K.-based B.A.T. Industries PLC.
Early Years: Focusing on Reinsurance and Marine Insurance
The insurance business developed relatively late in Switzerland but has gone on to achieve great importance. Initially the basic concepts of the business were taken from neighboring countries and adapted to Swiss conditions. Swiss insurance practice, legislation, and expertise reached such a high level, however, that they spread abroad. The forerunners of Zurich Financial Services, including Zürich Versicherungs-Gesellschaft (Zurich Insurance Company), played a decisive part in the international activities of the Swiss insurance business from the start.
The original phase of growth in the Swiss insurance business took place in the middle of the 19th century. Its development was sustained by the beginning of industrialization, the building of the railway network, the creation of more efficient credit banks, and the enterprising spirit of the time. Switzerland was emerging then as a leading financial center and was set to become one of the most important countries in the insurance industry. Statesman and entrepreneur Alfred Escher made a considerable contribution to the insurance business, and with the founding in 1856 of the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (known internationally as Credit Suisse) he paved the way for Zürich's international influence as a financial center.
Initially insurance business was carried out by specialist companies in the individual insurance classes. Two insurance companies in Basel and in St. Gall were already working in marine insurance. As exports were growing, it was felt by Swiss economists and other financial experts that it was necessary to create another marine insurance company in Zürich. Seventeen leading manufacturers and traders became members of the founding committee, formed in June 1869 on the initiative of the board of Credit Suisse. On October 9, 1869, the statutes of the Schweiz Transport-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft (Switzerland Transport Insurance Company) were approved by the ruling council of the canton of Zürich and on January 15, 1870, the company began trading. The first president of the board was John Syz-Landis and the first managing director was Wilhelm Berend Witt. It was intended from the outset that the company should be international in its activities.
It soon became apparent to the young company that it required the support of considerable reinsurance, which could not be covered by existing companies. Schweiz therefore took the decision to found its own reinsurance company. The shareholders in Schweiz were invited to take a share in the proposed company through a circular letter, dated October 23, 1872, from a ten-person founding committee under the leadership of Syz-Landis. The members of the committee had collaborated in the founding of Schweiz and belonged to the board of the company. The new company was to be run by the firm Versicherungs-Verein (Insurance Association) and was to take on a part of Schweiz's risks in the manner of a surplus reinsurance. By November 16, 1872, the statutes had been approved by the ruling council of the canton of Zürich. The licensing document carried the signature of the poet Gottfried Keller, who was first state clerk in Zürich from 1861 to 1876, and in that capacity signed the documents for the ruling council.
Close ties existed between the two companies thanks to the unified personnel in all their divisions, operating from one office. Together with reinsurance, the Versicherungs-Verein from its inception also dealt with direct marine insurance both at home and abroad. Substantial damage claims and fierce competition in the insurance markets caused considerable problems for the young company. The direct marine and reinsurance businesses on their own proved insufficiently profitable to sustain the young company, which consequently looked toward new fields of activity.
Late 19th Century: Switching to Accident and Liability Insurance
On a proposal put forward by the board, it was therefore decided at the Versicherungs-Verein general meeting in April 1874 to extend the company's activities to accident insurance. This class of insurance had grown rapidly in importance as industrialization spread. At first, however, this type of insurance had been limited, covering travel insurance and workers' insurance. Accident insurance first became available in England, where from 1849 the Railway Passengers Assurance Company was the first to provide insurance coverage against railway accidents. Later it was to extend coverage to other types of transportation. In Germany a law was first passed on June 7, 1871, that took into consideration the greater risks for employees caused by the increasing mechanization of factories. This law forced manufacturers to pay compensation for any personal injury to their workers. The increased liability made it necessary for companies to insure their workforce against accidents in the factory and the requirement brought about the creation of collective workers' insurance (Arbeiterkollektivversicherung).
In view of the high level of industrialization occurring in the Swiss economy, it was evident that similar developments would take place in the confederation. The board of Versicherungs-Verein recognized the sign of the times and broke ground in Switzerland with its introduction of accident insurance, which occurred in 1875. The significance of this step was underlined by the change in the company's name to the Transport- und Unfall-Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft Zürich (Zurich Transport and Accident Insurance Limited). The importance that Swiss industry attached to this branch of insurance is shown by the fact that another accident insurance company was also created in 1875, Winterthur, named after the city in which it was founded.
Zurich's growth as a separate company only began with the introduction of accident insurance. Transport insurance was discontinued "for the foreseeable future" at the end of 1880, and the company stopped taking on more reinsurance business. For a while the name of the company stayed as it had been, although from 1886 it added an explanatory sentence to clarify its activities, declaring that "the company deals exclusively in accident insurance." When liability insurance began to be developed in Germany as a new branch of insurance alongside accident insurance, with the two branches becoming independent of one another, Zurich also started offering liability insurance. The company was able from then on to offer insurance coverage not only against accidents but also against employers' liabilities for assessment of damages. The expansion of business into these areas led to the company's change of name to the Zürich Allgemeine Unfall- und Haftpflicht-Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft (Zurich General Accident and Liability Insurance Limited) on December 14, 1894. The company kept this name until 1955. These changes finally brought about the complete separation of Zurich from Schweiz, although friendly relations and business contacts were preserved. Zurich began to develop into a worldwide company.
The company first had to build up its own independent workforce. Until 1875 Schweiz's staff had also taken care of Zurich's business. The development of accident insurance required a specialized staff, both for internal running of the company and for customer services, because this insurance sector catered to a different clientele and operated within a completely different structure. This was particularly the case for liability insurance, with its complex legal aspects. In 1880 the company had 27 employees. By 1900 the number had grown to 140. Business in this branch of insurance was stimulated in Switzerland by laws passed between 1875 and 1881 establishing liability for railway and steamer companies as well as for factories.
Together with its activities in Switzerland, company business was extended to other areas at an early stage. The first step was taken as early as 1875 in Germany, where agencies were opened in Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Reutlingen. Further areas of business to be developed were the Rhineland, Westphalia, Saxony, and Alsace-Lorraine, the latter at that time part of the German empire. In the same year representative offices were opened in Austria-Hungary and in Denmark. Dealings in France followed in 1878. The Berlin branch that was opened in 1880 came to take on a particularly important role in the company's further development, because it was from here that business in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia was coordinated.
Early 20th Century: Entering U.S. and Other Markets
At the end of 1880, with the resignation of Witt, Zurich was for the first time given its own chief executive, Heinrich Müller. He was devoted to the business and set the company on a firm footing without neglecting the continued development of its activities abroad. His successor, Fritz Meyer, came from the treasury for the town of Zürich and made sure he consolidated the company's technical reserves. During his time in office, from 1900 to 1918, the company erected its own administrative office building on the Mythenquai in Zürich, where the company headquarters are still to be found. Above all, it also developed its workers' accident insurance business in France and considerably expanded its business in offering insurance against liability in Germany, where the introduction of the Civil Code on January 1, 1900, extended the need for such insurance into numerous new areas. The company's premium income in 1900 was CHF l5.4 million. Business in Switzerland accounted for CHF 3.7 million of this total, while France represented the largest premium income with CHF 5.5 million, followed by Germany with CHF 5 million.
A decisive move for Zurich was engaging in new business in the United States, although Zurich ran its U.S. subsidiary in Chicago in collaboration with a German fire insurance company. Zurich received the authorization to trade in the state of New York in 1912. The New York insurance commissioner had great influence on other states in the union. The U.S. accident and liability insurance company grew unexpectedly strong and brought in considerable premium income, but was also a heavy burden in terms of provisions and costs. To cover reserves, a large amount of capital was invested in U.S. dollars in the United States; after World War I this capital formed the basis for the further expansion of the U.S. company. Since then it had occupied a particularly important central role in the Zurich insurance group's activities. At the same time Zurich gained a foothold in England, Canada, Italy, and Spain. In 1925 an agreement was made with Ford Motor Company, the largest car manufacturer of that time, whereby preferential insurance terms were offered on Ford cars.
While establishing branches and founding subsidiaries under its own name in foreign countries according to national law, Zurich also acquired domestic insurance companies. This policy, like the starting of activities in the United States and the creation of a life insurance company for the group, dated from the time of August Leonhard Tobler, who first served as vice-director of the company and then was the head of Zurich from 1918 to 1927. It was under his leadership that the company developed into an internationally active insurance group, a status that continued to grow with the acquisition of substantial insurance companies. The continuity in the management of the company contributed to this achievement.
During the first 50 years of its existence, Zurich's activities were limited to damage and accident insurance. As a result of the decline of the German currency because of inflation after World War I, the German life insurance companies that held a strong position in the Swiss insurance markets were no longer able to fulfill their commitments in Swiss francs. They were therefore forced to withdraw from Switzerland. Swiss companies filled the gaps created in the market, with the result that numerous new life insurance companies were founded there. In 1922, in the course of these developments, the Vita Lebensversicherungs-Gesellschaft was created as a subsidiary of Zurich. It soon undertook business abroad, where it grew rapidly. It showed pioneering spirit when in 1926 it introduced a health service that offered regular checkups with a doctor and published medical leaflets giving advice on healthy living. Much later, in 1993, Vita was renamed Zurich Life.
Numerous Acquisitions in Postwar Era
World War II caused the loss for Zurich of important areas of business in central and Eastern Europe. The rebuilding of Zurich in Germany began in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt tower block next to the old opera house became the administrative center for the German Zurich network in 1961. A string of further insurance companies was tied to the German branch of the company. The Deutsche Allgemeine Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft (German General Accident Insurance Ltd.), founded in 1923, concentrated particularly on offering motor insurance through direct sales. Zurich resumed its policy of international expansion, which had been halted by the war, in numerous other countries. The company opened many new offices as well as its own life insurance companies, in particular in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The period after World War II was marked for Zurich by its development into a company dealing in all branches of insurance. Because of the systematic extension of the classes covered by the company, the branch-related balancing-out of risks was put alongside the international one. Until the beginning of the 1950s, the emphasis of activities had lain in the field of accident and liability insurance, whose dominant position was expressed in Zurich's slogan "The world's largest purely accident and liability insurer." The company was innovative in its introduction of these branches of insurance in major countries. The company's expansion into further sectors was reflected in its change of name to Zürich Versicherungs-Gesellschaft (Zurich Insurance Company) in 1955. In 1970 fire insurance was also offered by the company for the first time in Switzerland.
The acquisition of large insurance companies and groups in various foreign countries had a crucial bearing on the scope of the company's business and was a policy carried out under the management of Fritz Gerber, the chairman and for many years director general of the company. Three important examples illustrated this policy. In 1965 Zurich bought the Alpina Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft in Switzerland, which had established its own network abroad. In 1969 Agrippina Versicherung AG was acquired from a private bank. Agrippina had been created in Cologne in 1844 as a marine insurance company and was therefore well established in the German insurance market, with a number of subsidiaries of its own. The acquisition in 1989 of the Maryland Casualty Group, with its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, greatly strengthened Zurich's business with private customers as well as doubling premium income in the United States.
From 1972, Zurich's centenary year, to 1990, the parent company's gross premiums rose from CHF 2.3 billion to CHF 6.1 billion, and those of the Zurich insurance group from CHF 4 billion to CHF 17.1 billion. By 1990, Zurich did business worldwide in almost 80 countries, with a particularly strong presence in its traditional markets in Switzerland, the United States, and Germany. Its successful international development could be attributed largely to the use the company had made of the respected name of the financial center of Zürich together with its historical role in the expansion of accident and personal liability insurance. With a view to future business in the European Common Market, Zurich International companies were established in Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the Netherlands and offered special Euro-policies for industrial insurance. This type of insurance was supported by computer system Zurinet, ensuring international communication of information.
Transformational Developments Under Hüppi
In 1991 Rolf Hüppi took over as president and CEO of Zurich, with Gerber remaining chairman. Under the leadership of Hüppi, a 28-year veteran of the firm, Zurich in the early 1990s placed an emphasis on targeting specific sectors of the insurance market within the countries in which it operated. Faced with the heightened, and increasingly globalized, competitive landscape of the 1990s, Hüppi believed that his company needed to rein in its sprawling international operations to successfully compete. Peripheral and underperforming businesses were jettisoned in favor of such core niches as the Swiss life insurance market. Hüppi bolstered the latter through the 1991 acquisition of Geneva Insurance and a 1992 deal with Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC), through which Zurich began selling life insurance at SBC branches. U.S. operations were expanded in 1993 with the establishment of Zurich Reinsurance Centre Holdings Inc., which quickly became one of the largest reinsurers in the United States.
In the mid- to late 1990s, with the global consolidation of the financial services sector progressing at a rapid clip, Hüppi (who became chairman in 1995) thoroughly transformed Zurich through a series of major transactions. In early 1996 Zurich, through a $2 billion transaction, acquired an 80 percent interest in Kemper Corporation, which was headquartered in Long Grove, Illinois, and a 97 percent interest in Kemper Financial Services, the latter being the asset management unit of the former. By gaining control of Kemper and its two life insurance subsidiaries, Zurich gained its first significant presence in the U.S. life insurance market and increased its overall presence in the life insurance sector, a company goal. The addition of Kemper Financial Services greatly advanced Zurich's position in asset management and gave it a foothold in the U.S. money management business. The group had first entered this sector in 1990 with the establishment of Zurich Investment Management. Kemper, which was renamed Zurich Kemper Investments Inc., managed $42 billion in mutual fund assets at the time of the takeover.
Zurich Kemper was soon greatly expanded with the acquisition in 1997 of majority control of Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc., a New York mutual fund firm with about $120 billion in assets under management. In a complicated transaction, Zurich paid about $2 billion to take control of Scudder and merge it into Zurich Kemper to form Scudder Kemper Investments, which initially was 69.5 percent owned by Zurich and 30.5 percent owned by Scudder's senior management. Scudder Kemper (which was later renamed Zurich Scudder Investments) was based in New York.
1998 Merger with BAFS, Formation of Zurich Financial Services
Further growth occurred in 1998 when Zurich merged with British American Financial Services (BAFS), the financial services unit of U.K.-based B.A.T. Industries PLC, in a $38 billion transaction. The merger created a "new" Zurich, which began operating under the name Zurich Financial Services. A dual holding company structure was set up whereby Zurich was 55 percent owned by Zurich Allied AG, which had a listing on the Swiss Exchange, and 45 percent owned by Allied Zurich p.l.c., which had a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The addition of BAFS increased Zurich's gross premiums written from $23.7 billion to $40 billion and made Zurich the fifth largest insurance group in the world. Among the insurance holdings of BAFS was Los Angeles-based Farmers Group, Inc., one of the largest property-casualty insurance firms in the United States. BAFS also brought to Zurich substantial U.K. insurance operations, including Allied Dunbar Assurance, one of the largest life insurance and pension firms in the United Kingdom, and Eagle Star Holdings, a leading U.K. multiline insurer with strong commercial lines. The enlarged U.K. operations of Zurich led the group to begin speaking of having three "home" markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Zurich also gained an additional asset management business, London-based Threadneedle Asset Management, which increased the group's assets under management from $262 billion to $341.8 billion. This made Zurich one of the top ten asset managers in the world. Overall the newly formed Zurich intended to focus on four core businesses: non-life insurance, life insurance, reinsurance, and asset management.
In October 2000 the complicated structure of Zurich Financial was simplified with the unification of the group under a single Swiss holding company, also called Zurich Financial Services. The new Zurich had a primary stock listing on the Swiss Exchange and a secondary listing in London. Unfortunately, by this time, Zurich was being hurt by poor performance at the Zurich Scudder unit, which was suffering from difficulties integrating the varied corporate cultures that had existed at Scudder and Kemper, as well as from the volatile equity markets of 2000 and 2001.
Downturn and Retrenchment
Disappointing groupwide earnings led to the announcement in early 2001 that Zurich planned to exit from the reinsurance market in order to focus on non-life insurance, life insurance, and asset management. The reinsurance division, Zurich Re, was subsequently spun off into an independent, separately traded public firm, Converium Holding AG, in December 2001. Other underperforming units were earmarked for divestment as well. Zurich also launched a restructuring of its head office with the aim of achieving annual savings of $200 million by 2002. In a further restructuring effort initiated in July 2001, the company consolidated its global operations into five divisions, four of which were geographically oriented: Continental Europe, North America Corporate, North America Consumer/Latin America, and United Kingdom, Ireland, Southern Africa, and Asia/Pacific. The other division, Global Asset, included Zurich Scudder and other asset management businesses, such as Zurich Capital Markets, Centre, and Capital Z Partners.
In the meantime, soon after the announcement of the spinoff of Zurich Re, Zurich revealed that it was exploring strategic options for its troubled asset management operations. Late in 2001 Zurich reached an agreement to sell the bulk of its Global Asset unit, including Zurich Scudder but not including Threadneedle Asset Management, to Deutsche Bank AG. As part of this deal, which was valued at $2.5 billion and concluded in the spring of 2002, Zurich received a majority stake in Deutscher Herold, Deutsche's German life insurance business, plus the German bank's insurance operations in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
During 2001, the disastrous year that heralded this retrenchment, Zurich ended up posting a net loss of $387 million. The company's travails were compounded by the events of September 11, as it eventually had to pay out roughly $900 million in claims related to that day's terrorist attacks. By February 2002 Zurich's share price had fallen by more than 60 percent over the previous 12 months, and Hüppi finally bowed to months of pressure from shareholders and analysts and announced his intention to resign later in the year. In May 2002 James J. Schiro was appointed the new CEO. Schiro, a former CEO at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, had joined Zurich just two months earlier as COO in charge of finance. The American became the first foreigner to head Zurich Financial.
Schiro-Led Turnaround
Schiro moved aggressively to turn around a company whose financial state was edging toward a collapse. Among other initiatives, Zurich raised $2.4 billion in new capital from shareholders through a rights offering, embarked on a program to slash the workforce by 4,500 employees, and sharply cut operating expenses in a push to increase annual earnings by $1 billion. The company also moved to refocus on its core insurance businesses, jettisoning additional non-insurance units plus some smaller insurance operations in peripheral markets. Among the more significant divestments carried out in 2003 were that of Threadneedle, the U.S. unit Zurich Life, and the Swiss private bank Rüd Blass & Cie AG.
In 2002, prior to completing these divestments, Zurich further strengthened its balance sheet by increasing its provisions against losses by $1.9 billion and writing down the value of the equities in its investment portfolio by nearly $1 billion. These special provisions, coupled with an additional charge of $746 million to write down the value of its asset management unit, led to a staggering net loss for 2002 of $3.43 billion. The turnaround strategy led by Schiro, however, paid off only a year later, when Zurich managed to post net earnings of $2.12 billion. In 2004 Zurich further bolstered its balance sheet and increased its earnings to $2.47 billion.
The strength of this turnaround was increasingly evident by 2005 when despite a record year for catastrophic natural disasters that included Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the United States and major flooding and wildfires in Europe, Zurich Financial still managed to increase its net earnings by 30 percent to $3.21 billion. Claims for natural disasters that year amounted to $1.3 billion. Also during the year, Zurich reached a deal to sell Universal Underwriters Insurance Company, its U.S. subsidiary that specialized in providing insurance to auto dealers, to a private equity group, but the sale fell through in early 2006. Late in 2005 Zurich launched a global brand campaign centering on its new tagline "Because change happenz" and aiming to raise the profile of the Zurich brand around the world. The company followed up by incorporating the Zurich name into more of its various businesses.
In the first quarter of 2006 Zurich booked a $325 million charge to cover the cost of settling allegations of bid rigging and other broker compensation wrongdoing in the U.S. commercial insurance sector that had been brought by officials of 12 U.S. states. The company delisted its stock from the London Stock Exchange that year because of low trading volume, leaving its stock to be traded only on the Swiss Exchange. Seeking to gain further inroads into one of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world, Zurich in May 2006 became the first foreign insurer to be granted a license to open a property and casualty insurance branch in Beijing. The new unit focused on corporate customers, including foreign companies active in China and large and medium-size Chinese companies, especially those operating overseas. For the year, Zurich enjoyed a further surge in net income of 41 percent, to $4.53 billion, while its return on equity of 19 percent represented a strong gain over the 15.5 percent figure for the previous year.
An Acquisitive Turn in 2007
An increasingly confident Zurich Financial turned acquisitive once again in 2007, although this buying spree centered on smaller deals in the company's core businesses, mainly in emerging markets. In March 2007 the company acquired ACC Seguros y Reaseguros de Daños, S.A., a Spanish credit and surety insurer. A month later Zurich became the first foreign insurance company to gain control of a leading Russian property and casualty insurance firm when it bought a 66 percent stake in Nasta Insurance Company, subsequently renamed Zurich Retail Insurance Company Ltd. Zurich also purchased a minority stake and gained management control of a Chinese insurance-brokerage firm that was renamed Zurich Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Ltd. In December 2007 the company announced plans to create a new Hong Kong-based unit to expand its offerings to corporate customers in Japan, Greater China, Southeast Asia, and Australasia. That same month, Zurich sought to capture a larger share of the growing life insurance market in southern Europe by reaching a deal to purchase Italian life insurer DWA Vita SpA for approximately $140 million. Through deals such as these and other initiatives, Zurich Financial sought to spark a new period of growth following its recovery from the dark days of 2001 and 2002.
Principal Subsidiaries
Assuricum Company Limited; Genevoise, Compagnie d'Assurances sur la Vie SA; Zurich Group Holding; Zurich Insurance Company; Zurich Life Insurance Company Ltd.; "Zurich" Investment Management AG; Zurich Australia Limited; Zurich Australian Insurance Limited; Zurich Financial Services Australia Limited; Zürich Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft (Austria; 99.98%); B G Investments Ltd. (Bermuda); Centre Group Holdings Limited (Bermuda); CMSH Limited (Bermuda); ZCM Holdings (Bermuda) Limited; ZG Investments Limited (Bermuda); ZG Investments II Ltd. (Bermuda); ZG Investments III Ltd. (Bermuda); ZG Investments IV Ltd. (Bermuda); Zurich International (Bermuda) Ltd.; Chilena Consolidada Seguros de Vida S.A. (Chile; 98.95%); BONNSECUR GmbH & Co. Liegenschaften Deutscher Herold KG (Germany; 84.35%); DA Deutsche Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft (Germany); DEUTSCHER HEROLD Aktiengesellschaft (Germany; 76.83%); Zürich Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft (Germany); Zurich Deutscher Herold Lebensversicherung Aktiengesellschaft (Germany; 84.35%); Zurich Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft (Germany; 94.96%); Eagle Star Life Assurance Company of Ireland Limited; Orange Stone Holdings (Ireland); Orange Stone Reinsurance (Ireland); Zurich Financial Services EUB Holdings Limited (Ireland); Zurich Insurance Ireland Ltd.; Zurich Investments Life S.p.A. (Italy); Zurich Life Insurance Italia S.p.A. (Italy); Zurich - Companhia de Seguros S.A. (Portugal); Zurich Retail Insurance Company Ltd. (Russia; 66%); South African Eagle Insurance Company Limited (73.61%); Zurich España, Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros, S.A. (Spain; 99.78%); Zurich Vida, Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros, S.A.--Sociedad Unipersonal (Spain); Zurich Insurance (Taiwan) Ltd. (98.9%); Allied Dunbar Assurance p.l.c. (U.K.); Allied Zurich Limited (U.K.); Eagle Star Holdings Limited (U.K.); Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited (U.K.); ZPC (Construction) Company Limited (U.K.); Zurich Assurance Ltd. (U.K.); Zurich Employment Services Limited (U.K.); Zurich Financial Services (UKISA) Limited (U.K.); Zurich International (UK) Limited; Zurich International Life Limited (U.K.); Zurich Invest (Jersey) Ltd. (U.K.); Zurich Specialties London Limited (U.K.); Centre Reinsurance Holdings (Delaware) Limited (U.S.A.); Crown Management Services Limited (U.S.A.); Farmers Group, Inc. (U.S.A.); Farmers New World Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.); Farmers Reinsurance Company (U.S.A.); Farmers Services, LLC (U.S.A.); Kemper Corporation (U.S.A.); Kemper Investors Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.); Universal Underwriters Insurance Company (U.S.A.); Zurich American Insurance Company (U.S.A.); Zurich Finance (USA), Inc.; Zurich Holding Company of America, Inc. (U.S.A.).
Principal Divisions
General Insurance; Global Life; Farmers Management Services.
Principal Competitors
Allianz SE; AXA; ING Groep N.V.; American International Group, Inc.; Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.; Aviva plc; The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Further Reading
Banks, Howard, "A Zurich in Your Future?" Forbes, April 20, 1998, pp. 85-86.
Carew, Rick, "Zurich Financial Buys into China," Wall Street Journal Europe, September 5, 2007, p. 23.
Deogun, Nikhil, and Tom Lauricella, "Zurich Financial Seeks a Merger to Reinvigorate Its Scudder Unit," Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2001, p. C1.
Evans, Richard, "Premium Insurer: Zurich Financial Stresses Service over Price, but Sells at a Discount," Barron's, January 31, 2000, pp. 22, 24.
Fleming, Charles, "Zurich Financial Swings to Profit," Wall Street Journal Europe, August 21, 2003, p. M3.
------, "Zurich Insurance Group Is Looking for a New Focus: Multinational Seeks to Distinguish Itself by Targeting Specific Markets," Wall Street Journal, June 26, 1992, p. B3.
Gelnar, Martin, and Goran Mijuk, "Zurich Financial Halts Sale of Insurer," Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2006, p. B3D.
Greil, Anita, "Converium Raises $1.1 Billion for Zurich Financial in IPO," Wall Street Journal Europe, December 12, 2001, p. 19.
------, "Zurich Financial Struggles," Wall Street Journal Europe, October 8, 2001, p. 14.
Howard, Lisa S., "Zurich Financial Services to Exit Reinsurance Market," National Underwriter Property and Casualty-Risk and Benefits Management, March 26, 2001, p. 2.
Hundert Jahre "Schweiz" Allgemeine Versicherungs-Aktien-Gesellschaft Zürich, 1869-1969, Zürich: Art Institut Orell Füssli Zürich AG, [1969].
Koch, Peter, "Der schweizerische Beitrag zur Entwicklung des Versicherungs-wesens," Versicherungswirtschaft, 1985.
------, "Versicherer aus aller Welt in Deutschland," Versicherungskaufmann, July 1987.
Lipin, Steven, "Kemper Agrees to Be Acquired by Group Headed by Zurich Insurance for $2 Billion," Wall Street Journal, April 11, 1995, p. A3.
Lucchetti, Aaron, and Marcus Walker, "Deutsche Bank to Buy Zurich Financial Assets," Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2001, p. C17.
Lüönd, Karl, Inspired by Tomorrow: Zurich--125 Years; History and Vision of a Global Corporation, Zürich: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 1998, 269 p.
Markram, Bianca, "Zurich's New Approach to Life," Reactions, May 2004, p. 16.
Mijuk, Goran, "Zurich Financial, Baloise Set to Buy Smaller Rivals," Wall Street Journal Europe, December 27, 2006, p. 19.
Mijuk, Goran, and Anita Greil, "Zurich Financial Unit Sale Aids Restructuring," Wall Street Journal Europe, June 17, 2003, p. M6.
Mijuk, Goran, and Ian McDonald, "Zurich Financial Largely Averts Subprime Damage," Wall Street Journal Europe, August 17, 2007, p. 17.
Parekh, Rupal, "Zurich Settles Some Bid-Rigging Charges," Business Insurance, March 27, 2006, p. 1.
------, "Zurich Unit, States Finalize Settlements to Resolve Probes," Business Insurance, December 11, 2006, p. 3.
Sclafane, Susanne, "Zurich: $2 Billion Loss, 4,500 Staff Cuts," National Underwriter Property and Casualty, September 16, 2002, p. 26.
Silverman, Gary, and Friederike von Tiesenhausen, "Bank One Buys Half of Zurich Life for $500m," Financial Times, May 31, 2003, p. 8.
Simonian, Haig, "ZFS Emerges from Internal Strife to Find Uncertainty," Financial Times, June 12, 2007, p. 24.
------, "ZFS Makes Move into Russia," Financial Times, February 15, 2007, p. 23.
------, "ZFS Views the Future with New Confidence," Financial Times, August 16, 2005, p. 23.
------, "Zurich Makes a Virtue Out of Being Boring," Financial Times, August 18, 2006, p. 22.
Steinmetz, Greg, "Kemper Purchase to Make Zurich Insurance a Tougher Competitor in the U.S. Market," Wall Street Journal Europe, June 7, 1995, p. 9.
Steinmetz, Greg, and Margaret Studer, "B.A.T. Seals Its Union with Zurich Insurance," Wall Street Journal, October 17, 1997, p. B14.
Studer, Margaret, "Hüppi Isn't Done with Makeover of Swiss Insurance: Big Year Is on the Horizon for an Empire Builder Who's Eager to Please," Wall Street Journal Europe, December 29, 1998, p. 9.
------, "Weak Dollar Aids Zurich Insurance's Shopping Spree: Bidder for Kemper Seeks Stronger Life Operations and Global Expansion," Wall Street Journal, April 12, 1995, p. B4.
"Swiss Miss," Economist, March 30, 2002, p. 66.
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— Peter Koch (translated from the German by Philippe A. Barbour); Updated by David E. Salamie
