Zurich streamlines its legal structure

Zurich, April 29, 2008 – Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) announced today that it completed a rationalization of its legal group structure on April 25, 2008. As part of the restructuring, Zurich Insurance Company (ZIC), the Group’s main operating company, has acquired Farmers Group Inc. (the holding company for all its Farmers businesses) and Allied Zurich Holdings (Jersey) Limited (the holding company for its UK based Life insurance company, Zurich Assurance Limited). Both companies were transferred from ZIC’s immediate parent company, Zurich Group Holding. There is no impact on the consolidated financial position of Zurich Financial Services. All of the Group’s operating insurance businesses are now owned through ZIC.

Dieter Wemmer, Zurich's Chief Financial Officer, said, "This is a significant step towards our goal to simplify our legal structures. It will increase our flexibility and enable us to manage our capital more effectively, while considerably strengthening the solvency of ZIC to 295 percent, and providing further improvements to the corporate tax structure."