Segment Reporting | Swiss Life adjusted its segment structure following the sale of its insurance business in the Netherlands and Belgium and of Banca del Gottardo. Continuing insurance operations have been broken down by country and the areas sold are shown separately. The result for continuing segments rose 12% from CHF 969 million to CHF 1086 million.
Following the disposals of the Dutch and Belgian insurance business and of Banca del Gottardo, which were announced in November 2007, Swiss Life adapted its reporting to reflect the new situation in accordance with the accounting principles. Continuing insurance operations have been broken down into Insurance Switzerland, Insurance France, Insurance Germany and Insurance Other. Insurance Other comprises the results of the countries of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Two further segments are Investment Management and Other, the latter containing the financing and holding companies. The areas whose disposal the company had announced in the period under review will remain fully consolidated in the statements until the respective transactions have been finalised. They are, however, disclosed separately and broken down into insurance and banking. To facilitate a year-on-year comparison, the previous year’s figures are also shown in accordance with the new structure.
In 2007 Swiss Life achieved a total segment result of CHF 1086 million for continuing operations, which represents a 12% increase on the previous year. Insurance Switzerland contributed 60% to this figure, Insurance France 30% and Insurance Germany 6%. Gross written premiums for continuing operations climbed 9% to CHF 21.2 billion. Approximately 40% of the premiums were written in Switzerland, 35% in France, 10% in Germany and 15% in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, which mainly conduct cross-border business. The French result still includes premium income from the ERISA companies which were sold during the period under review. Without these companies’ contribution, the premium income for continuing operations amounted to CHF 19.3 million in 2007.
In its Discontinued Insurance segment, Swiss Life generated a result of CHF 471 million and gross premium income of around CHF 3.0 billion. The CHF 325 million increase in the segment result is due primarily to a dissolution of reserves amounting to roughly CHF 300 million following a change in Dutch law.
