Focus on growth opportunities | Swiss Life wants to seize growth opportunities more systematically in its existing markets, in international business and in attractive growth markets. The company believes that the greatest potential lies in the area of cross-border business in structured pension solutions for high net worth individuals. With its presence in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, Swiss Life is excellently positioned in the rapidly growing global market for private placement life insurance. In March 2008 Swiss Life opened a branch in Singapore, permitting it to access the attractive Asian market more easily. Swiss Life expects the volume of premiums in this sector to increase from around CHF 3 billion in 2007 to between CHF 8 and 10 billion in 2012.
Flexible products with variable guarantees (variable annuities) represent another cross-border business segment with outstanding growth potential. Swiss Life distributes these products among various countries from a central product platform in Luxembourg. Variable annuity products offer customers an optimal combination of traditional insurance and modern investment products. Not only is there a clear demand for such products on the part of the customer, they require less risk capital than traditional products and are attractive in terms of profitability.
The employee benefits solutions offered by international companies also fall under cross-border business. Due to changes in the regulatory framework within the European Union (EU), it is now possible to offer cross-border pension products without having to conclude a separate policy in each individual country. In order to fully tap into these new business opportunities, the Swiss Life Network and its existing corporate business in Luxembourg was merged into the Corporate Solutions business unit.
Moreover, Swiss Life intends to exploit growth opportunities its existing markets through acquisitions. New markets will be mainly targeted via joint ventures and partnerships.
