Jean-Pierre M ichot* W alter M inoretti Werner M üller Bruno Nigg* Theodor Obrist Bernard Perrin* Egon J. Ritter W erner G. Rüegg* Robert Rüesch W illi Rüetschi René Rüttimann W erner Schiegg* Françoise Schulthess*
whole, questionable to do nothing about structural under-rating in m ajor branches in the hope of a counter-balancing effect from other branches. The spread of risk achieved by insurance always presup­ poses a certain so lidarity among the members of a risk com m unity who are exposed to the same risk, and cannot be extended at w ill beyond the scope of the individual branches. Thus, fo r example, a po licy­ holder w ill hardly be prepared to pay higher pre­ miums fo r his Fire insurance because the results of the Liability branch are unsatisfactory and vice versa.
Sickness reinsurance brought a profit. In view of the general, although somewhat reduced cost explosion in medical care, this branch is being conducted with extreme caution.
damage and reactor liab ility losses involving injury to persons outside the nuclear installation, the pres­ sure has increased to lower premium rates, whilst in many places higher liab ility lim its per plant were demanded. Com pared with other industrial insta lla­ tions, the degree of safety in nuclear power plants is undoubtedly unusually high and it is hardly possible to imagine an actual nuclear catastrophe occurring. It is, however, to be borne in m ind that the premium income received so far by the insurance industry in A tom ic insurance is still very modest in the light of the high liab ility lim its so that fo r the moment sub­ stantial prem ium reductions are not justified.
The already mentioned currency developm ent was not w ithout e ffect on the investment portfo lio and income: In original currency, substantial growth was achieved in current investment incom e — despite the decline in interest rates and the corresponding lower yield on the investment of new money, including redem p­ tion proceeds. This was mainly because the cons ide r­ able new investments made in the previous year y ielded a full return fo r the first time and because the amount of new money invested during the year under report was again substantial; a further contribution came from sw itches out of tax-exem pt bonds into higher yie ld ing taxable bonds on the part of our U.S. Branch in New York. Even after conversion at the lower exchange rates prevailing on the balance- sheet date, an increase in income was still registered, giving a total of Sw. frs. 189 m illion (previous year, Sw. frs. 173 m illion), after deduction of the interest required fo r the Life assurance and annuity fund and other techn ical reserves.
In the year under report, taxes fell by Sw. frs. 1.7 m il­ lion to Sw. frs. 47.6 m illion. Additional local taxes payable in Zurich are offset by a fall in d irect tax­ ation abroad. This fall in foreign taxes is largely due to the favourable outcome of a fiscal dispute between the Australian insurance industry and the tax author­ ities, which allowed the dissolution of a contingency reserve fund set up to meet the notified additional tax burden.
The SwissRe Holding Ltd. com prises all the com ­ panies whose figures have been consolidated — with the exception of Swiss Re, Zurich — together with a number of m inority holdings.
Group profit app licab le to m inority shareholders 5 5 9
The conso lidation reserve fund results from the d iffe ­ rence between the capita l funds shown of Group com panies and the corresponding book values ap­ plied by SwissRe Holding Ltd. and Swiss Re, Zurich. The decrease of the conso lidation reserve fund by Sw. frs. 40 m illion is due to the above-m entioned foreign currency loss as well as to inclusion fo r the firs t time of the «SWITZERLAND» General in the scope of conso lidation and to changes in the holding structure.
Swiss Reinsurance Company (U.K.) Ltd. 108 Cannon Street, London EC4N 6HE with a branch o ffice in Hong Kong
Canadian Reassurance Company 95 St. C la ir Avenue West, Toronto M4V 1N6, Ontario with a branch office in Montreal
OFATEC (México) S.A. de C.V. Comunal 80 bis, Piso 5 Col. del Valle, M exico 12, D.F.