Swiss Re AG

Swiss Re AG is a Swiss reinsurance company headquartered in Zurich, one of the largest reinsurers in the world. It was founded in 1863, prompted directly by the Great Fire of Glarus two years earlier, a catastrophic blaze that destroyed much of the Swiss town and exposed how poorly prepared local insurers were to absorb losses of that scale, leading Swiss businesses to establish a dedicated reinsurance company able to spread such large risks more broadly. Swiss Re provides reinsurance, which is insurance purchased by other insurance companies to help them cover very large or unusual claims, across life, health, property, and casualty lines, and it also underwrites large corporate and specialty risks directly through its Corporate Solutions business.