Exports, port of Basel
Update 11:40 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland officially moved out of recession in the third quarter of 2009, Bern announced Tuesday 1 December. Real GDP (gross domestic product) was up 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. Private consumption (+0.6 percent) and building investments both grew, and healthcare plus the financial and insurance industries also rose. Investments were up “massively”, with industrial goods investments rising by 5.5 percent.
The government’s own “consumption expenditure” rose by 1.3 percent.
Exports of goods and services both climbed, by 2.2 and 0.3 percent respectively, for the first time “after a considerable one-year slide” the government statement reports.
Swiss households' real estate assets, now more transparent
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The net worth of Swiss households fell in 2008 from an average of CHF334,000 per capita to CHF312,000. About CHF200,000 of this is real estate and claims against insurance and pension plans. The drop in assets, the first since 2002, was due to sharp falls in stock market values. It would have been worse but for higher real estate values, which provided something of a safety net. Real estate assets, CHF1,315 billion in total, accounted for 43 percent of all household assets at the end of 2008, up from 39 percent the previous year.
Real estate prices climbed in 2008
The total value of households’ real estate rose by CHF73 billion in 2008.
The figures were released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) Friday 20 November, as part of the national financial accounts. This is the first year that assets include households’ real estate. The report notes that:
“financial assets held by households declined by CHF199 billion (10.4%) to CHF1,718 billion, while assets held in real estate increased by CHF73 billion (5.9%) to CHF1,315 billion. Liabilities rose by CHF15 billion (2.4%) to CHF629 billion. As a result of these developments, households’ net worth fell by CHF 141 billion (5.5%) to CHF2,403 billion.”
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sales of micro-insurance policies to the world’s poor has increased 50 percent since 2008, according to Zurich Financial’s micro-insurance unit. Small policies that cover health events, household contents, life insurance, and fire and flood protection for low-income people are increasing because of innovative ways of distributing insurance products, which the company says are themselves innovative.
Distribution channels include pharmacies in Bolivia that sell scratch cards for personal accident insurance, and post offices in India that offer life insurance. Low-income households in Indonesia can buy flood coverage for about $10 per year through cooperatives.
Leman Expat Fair, Morges
Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Lake Geneva area has numerous business and social clubs and networking groups for the English-speaking in international population that welcome newcomers, but every autumn the region is home to two events, each of which pull in a few thousand visitors, which make it easy for new arrivals to learn more about the region.
The family-centred indoors fairs, held on separate Sundays, introduce visitors to primarily English-language services and shops in the region, from clubs to insurance and banking advice, including a host of products. The Leman Expat Fair in Morges Sunday 27 is the first of these, with 100 exhibitors in the intimate setting of the Beausobre Theatre. The second is Expat Expo, with 180 exhibitors at Palexpo, Geneva’s large exhibition space near the airport.
Both offer free admission and plenty of giveaways. Check their web sites for details, as well as the GenevaLunch events pages for times and locations.
Ed. note: GenevaLunch will be at the Leman Expat Fair Sunday 27 September. We are unlikely to be able to join Expat Expo because of a date conflict, but we support the efforts of both groups to reach out to as many members of the international community as possible.
Stefan Lippe, CEO, Swiss Re
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Re, one of Switzerland’s largest insurance companies, has posted a CHF381 million loss for the second quarter of the year, after a small Q1 profit of CHF150m, blaming the downturn on hedge and impairment losses but insisting that the company will remain on target. “During the second quarter of 2009, our core business, despite the reported loss, continued to deliver strong underwriting results and solid earnings power. Most importantly, the measures we implemented to improve our capital base have proven to be effective,” notes Stefan Lippe, CEO.
The Sears Tower in Chicago, once famed as the tallest building in the world, has a new owner and with it a new name: welcome to the world, the Willis Tower. Marketing experts are debating whether or not the insurance company behind the name will be able to make it stick. Reuters
US President Barack Obama told the annual meetings of the American Medical Association in New York 15 June that if the US healthcare system is not reformed to provide broader coverage but also to contain costs, the growing cost of medical care could bankrupt the country. Some 50 million Americans are currently without health insurance. A proposal by the president that would cost an estimated $1 trillion and taken 10 years to fully implement, is the subject of growing debate. BBC, New York Times and Bloomberg TV
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared to the last quarter of 2008. The drop was 2.4 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Foreign trade was the main culprit, says the federal government: exports of goods fells by 6.6 percent and of services by 2.3 percent.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss citizens vote Sunday 17 May on two issues, one of which appears to have the country nearly evenly divided. Voters will be asked to approve limited insurance coverage for alternative medical treatments and biometric passports.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Federal Council (cabinet) in Bern is backing a number of health care cost containment proposals, including a controversial charge of CHF30 to visit a doctor. The measures, recommended by the Federal Department of Home Affairs, are designed to reduce Switzerland’s increasing health costs. The cabinet 6 May announced that it will also ask the home affairs office to draw up the legislation that will be presented to Parliament.
American insurance company AIG, which Bloomberg says is “the insurer deemed too important to fail,” has posted a fourth quarter 2008 loss of $61.7 billion, prompting the US government to put up to $30 billion into the company in a revised bailout plan.
Swiss Life profits fall ®SwissLife
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Life, one of Europe’s top 10 insurance companies, says its profits fell 75% last year but that its capital base improved at the end of 2008.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The nearly CHF1 billion loss in 2008 that Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, announced earlier is being confirmed today, 19 February, with the company’s new CEO Stefan Lippe presenting the final, audited results: CHF884 million in the red, with CHF170m of the loss coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Jacques Aigrain, the CEO of Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance company, has left the company. Swiss Re announced the news 12 February, just days after the insurer reported an unexpected CHF1 billion loss for 2008. Aigrain, a former investment banker, joined the company in 2001 and became CEO in 2006.
Bern, Switzerland (romandie/ats, Fre) – A driver who denies the charges is in court this week after being accused of making CHF95,000 over a 10-year period by provoking accidents and then collecting money for his “damaged” car, which was already damaged.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Life, Switzerland’s largest life insurance company, will cut its workforce in Switzerland by 200 in 2009, nearly a quarter of the firm’s employees.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Zurich has announced a $4.2 billion profit for the third quarter of 2008 and net income of $2.8b, despite what it calls “extreme market conditions.”
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Re, one of the world’s top 10 insurance companies and a world leader in risk insurance, surprised the financial world Tuesday with its announcement of a third quarter net loss of CHF304 million, but it insisted that its “balance sheet is strong, and the company’s capital adequacy remains at very high levels.”
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – Geneva had 558 car stolen in 2007, reports the Tribune, and the makes that were most popular with thieves were Volkswagen, Opel and Peugeot.
