Learning from pressure

Swiss Life's balance sheet came under severe pressure as equity markets collapsed in the early years of this decade, but establishing a centralised risk management system has brought the company back into rude health - and it is now ready to enter the variable annuity fray

Thomas Muller has reasons to be cheerful. Swiss Life's profits increased by 43% in 2007 to a record Sfr1,386, billion bringing home a 50% increase in return on equity to 18.1%, leaving the group chief financial and risk officer quietly contented. But news has not always been so positive for the Zurich-based insurer, with the recent spike in earnings coming on the back of an Sfr1.7 billion loss in 2002 - a loss which sparked a rethink of the company's risk management ethos.

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