# Major insurance companies

A map of a former edition of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by ETH Zurich. It opens only in the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS, not in the web atlas; see the links below.

- Map: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/major-insurance-companies/
- Short title: Insurance companies
- Map id: 525
- Categories: Economy and Energy › Companies › Insurance
- Keywords: Economy, Labour, Labour force
- Published: 2017-11-13
- Last revised: 2020-11-02
- Content language: English
- Other languages: [Deutsch](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/de/thema/groesste-versicherungs-unternehmen.md), [Français](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/fr/theme/majeures-entreprises-dassurances.md), [Italiano](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/it/tema/maggiori-imprese-di-assicurazioni.md)

## Description

In 2015 the Swiss insurers accounts for over 43% of Switzerland's financial industry. It ranks among the top ten Swiss industries and creates value of some 26.1 billion of Swiss francs. This translates into a 4.2% share in the overall economy. Insurances can be classified into three categories : lief, indemnity and reinsurance.

*Life insurance*
Life insurance encompasses an insurance that protects against financial consequences of life-related risks such as old age, death and disability/incapacity to work. The offering includes individual life insurance and group life insurance and is used especially within the framework of the third pillar of the retirement provision.

*Indemnity insurance*
Indemnity insurance cover is provided if a financial loss is the prerequisite and criterion upon which the insurer's obligation to indemnify is evaluated.
The Swiss Insurance Policies Act classes both non-life and health insurers as indemnity insurance companies. Many types of insurance thus fall under this umbrella, including sickness, fire and property damage, accident, liability and legal expenses.
Switzerland’s largest insurers in 2015 were AXA Insurance, Schweizerische Mobiliar, Zurich Insurance, Allianz Suisse, Helvetia and Basler Versicherung AG. With written premiums of some CHF 13,000 billion, their combined share of the domestic market amounted to almost 75%.
The biggest four health insurers in 2015 were Helsana Zusatzversicherungen, Swica Krankenversicherung, CSS and Visana. They made up just over 56% of the Swiss market with total written premiums of around CHF 5,100 billion.

*Reinsurance*
Reinsurers are companies which insure insurers. The aim of reinsurance is to spread a risk between a direct insurer and a reinsurer based on a certain percentage. An insurer who issues a contract to a customer is referred to as a "direct insurer". By passing on part of the business to a reinsurer, he acts as an assignor whilst the reinsurer who accepts the risk becomes an assignee. That part of the risk that the first insurer bears is called the "retention" and that part which he passes on the "second risk". In many cases they are more broadly diversified, both geographically and by sector, than primary insurers. They are therefore better positioned to absorb the financial impacts of major loss events (e.g. natural disasters).

## Sources

- VBV, Berufsbildungsverband der Versicherungswirtschaft (2017): [Lexikon](http://www.vbv.ch/de/VBV/Dienstleistungen/Lexikon//de/de/)
- FINMA (2015): [Versicherungsmarktbericht 2015](https://www.finma.ch/de/dokumentation/finma-publikationen/berichte/versicherungsbericht/)

## Data sources

- Atlas der Schweiz (2015): [Siedlungszentren](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- Handelszeitung (2016): Top 500. Die grössten Unternehmen der Schweiz. Bisnode Schweiz AG

## Data owners

- [Atlas of Switzerland (AoS)](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- [Handelszeitung](http://www.handelszeitung.ch/)

## Citation

The terms of use ask to name the Atlas of Switzerland and the data owners, and to keep the source references in exports, screenshots and embeds. Cite the map as:

> Atlas of Switzerland (2020): Major insurance companies. ETH Zürich. Map data © AoS, Handelszeitung. https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/major-insurance-companies/

## Links

- Map page, with the description and sources and a button that opens the map in the desktop atlas: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/major-insurance-companies/
- Open the map in the desktop atlas (version 4), where it is installed: adsglobe://map/525
- Download of the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/ads4-download/

For the use and citation of maps and data, see the [terms of use](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/terms-of-use/).