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Auditors
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) serves as external statutory auditor for 84% of the Swiss Life Group companies that are directly or indirectly held by Swiss Life Holding under its scope of consolidation. PwC is also the Group auditor for Swiss Life Holding. The remaining auditing mandates for subsidiaries are carried out by Ernst & Young (11%) and other auditing firms (5%).
In the report of the Group auditors, PwC confirms that it meets the legal requirements concerning professional qualification and independence.
Duration of the mandates and term of office of the lead auditor The Articles of Association stipulate that the external auditor is to be elected by the General Meeting of Shareholders for one financial year at a time. At the time Swiss Life Holding was established in 2002, PwC was named as Group auditor. Since then PwC has been re-elected without fail, most recently for the year 2006 at Swiss Life Holding’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May 2006. PwC has also acted as Group auditor for Swiss Life/Rentenanstalt since 1994. The partner in charge of auditing the Swiss Life Holding consolidated financial statements at PwC (lead auditor) has held that function since the 2004 financial year.
Auditing fees In 2006 the auditing fees credited to PwC came to CHF 12 million (2005: CHF 11.3 million). This includes the fees for reviewing the 2006 half-year accounts.
Additional fees In 2006 PwC received additional fees totalling around CHF 2.1 million for advisory services (2005: CHF 1.2 million), approximately a quarter of which was for financial and auditing advice, respectively. The remainder resulted from legal, fiscal and strategic advice, as well as other advisory services.
Supervisory and control instruments vis-à-vis the auditors The Audit Committee maintains regular contact with the external auditors. It assesses the quality and effectiveness of the external reporting, ascertains the independence of the statutory auditors and identifies possible conflicts of interest. Representatives from the external auditing firms may be called upon by the Audit Committee to attend any meetings it may hold. The Audit Committee held four meetings during the year under review. Representatives from the external auditors attended all the meetings, either in their entirety or for specific items on the agenda.
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