History
General Insurance
From the earliest days after its foundation in 1872, Zurich started to expand outside the borders of Switzerland. Within the first eight years, we had become an international business with organizations throughout continental Europe. In 1912 Zurich started operations in the United States. While most of its competitors concentrated on their domestic markets after World War I, Zurich had the financial strength and international experience to expand further. It became the first continental casualty insurer in the English insurance market in 1922, and the following year a branch office was opened in Canada. Today, Zurich has a strong foothold on both sides of the Atlantic and a significant presence in other world markets. Contrary to most of its competitors with similar long histories, Zurich’s domestic market, Switzerland, has been its largest operation only for a short period of four years 1978 - 1981. Zurich’s largest national operations in chronological order were: 1875 – 1900 Germany; 1900 – 1920 France; 1920 – 1978, 1982 - today USA. This constant focus on international business is one important factor that differentiates us in the marketplace.
Innovation has always been a driving force. Having been founded as a marine re-insurer in 1872, Zurich entered the new field of accident insurance only two years later. After the nationalization of a large part of accident insurance in Germany in 1886, namely workmen’s compensation, that country became Zurich’s laboratory for liability insurance. While Zurich’s liability business started around third-party liability of factories and other industrial premises, by 1890 new products had been introduced in Germany for a whole variety of other liabilities, including homeowner’s/real estate liability, medical malpractice for doctors and pharmacists, hunter’s liability, private liability and horse owner’s liability. In 1898 the Belgian branch office published the first rate schedule for auto liability.
With the establishment in 1976 of the International Division (later renamed Zurich International, today Global Corporate), Zurich was the first European insurer to offer so-called umbrella treaties to its corporate customers, with global programs which for example cover all facilities of a corporation worldwide. Risk Engineering, founded in 1978 as part of the International Division, was a world novelty as it provided for the first time integrated risk services to corporate customers. The Zurich Hazard Analysis went beyond the traditional property risk to include safety and liability risks into a holistic view. In 1994 Zurich was the first insurer to introduce direct telephone marketing to the Swiss market. Three years later, HelpPoints were introduced in Switzerland, where customers can arrange for damage to their car or home to be repaired quickly and claims settled expeditiously. This innovative idea was successfully “exported” to Farmers in the US.
The present Zurich Financial Services Group was created in 1998 through the merger with the financial services businesses of B.A.T Industries p.l.c., which almost doubled the size of the Group and enlarged our insurance operations, especially in the United States and United Kingdom. In the US, the merger brought into the Group the Farmers Exchanges, which we manage but do not own, and which serve about ten million households.
Life Insurance
Zurich entered life insurance in 1922 when the Vita Life Insurance Company was founded in Switzerland. In 1925, Vita became the first European insurer to offer free medical check-ups to customers in accordance with the life insurance ground rule “Good health is good business.” Customers were sent vouchers that they could use with the doctor of their choice. The initiative was an immediate success, and repeated surveys showed that the mortality of customers using the check-up-voucher was 20 percent lower than among customers not doing so.
In 1967 VITA became an active promoter of the fitness movement, launching and sponsoring a standardized fitness trail which came to enjoy immense popularity in Switzerland and abroad under the name VITA-Parcours.
After the foundation of Vita, Zurich’s life insurance operations expanded rapidly into Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France, with operations being added in the United States in 1947 and the United Kingdom in 1960. Vita was renamed Zurich Life in 1993.
Today, Zurich’s Global Life business segment concentrates on three geographical areas: Europe, the United States and other regions in our International Businesses division. It benefits from strong positions in all key markets as well as extensive distribution networks in the US and UK.
