Net premiums written 1999
$7,924m (£5,561m)
European head office
40 General Guisan-Strasse
8401 Winterthur
Switzerland
Tel: +41 52 261 11 11
Fax: +41 52 213 66 20
Website: winterthur.com
Established in 1875
Main classes of business: Non-life, life, motor and reinsurance
History
Winterthur Insurance was founded in 1875. It was in its very first year of business that it opened branch offices outside Switzerland. In 1923 it expanded into life insurance business.
Today Winterthur maintains over 28,000 staff in more than 30 countries worldwide. Together with the bank subsidiaries of Credit Suisse Group, it forms one of the world's leading integrated financial services companies. Winterthur focuses on insurance as its core business. It offers private and corporate customers tailor-made insurance and pension solutions at local and international level. In industrial business, Winterthur operates world-wide and is among the world's leading insurers of multinational corporations, while in consumer business it prefers to specialise in selected European markets. Its reinsurance activity is focused on selected market and customer segments.
Its Rechtsschutzversicherung ARAG Schweiz now provides call centre facilities for the domestic market, while its North American interests include link-ups with American Insurance Group and Travelers Property Casualty.
Subsidiaries
Winterthur Versicherungen, Austria
Winterthur Pensionskassen, Austria
Wintisa, Austria
Winterthur International, Austria
Winterthur-Europe Assurances, Belgium
DBV Verzekeringen, Belgium
Winterthur International, Belgium
Winterthur pojistovna, Czech Republic
Winterthur, penzijní fond, Czech Republic
Winterthur International, Czech Republic
Winterthur International, Denmark
Winterthur Assurances, France
Winterthur Vie, France
Rhodia Assurances, France
Winterthur International, France
DBV-Winterthur Versicherungen, Germany
Winterthur Versicherungen, Germany
Winterthur Leben, Germany
TRANS/telcon Versicherungen, Germany
Winterthur International, Germany
Winterthur Biztositó Rt, Hungary
Winterthur Pénztárszolgáltató Rt, Hungary
Winterthur Biztosító Rt, Hungary
Winterthur Assicurazioni, Italy
Winterthur Vita, Italy
Winterthur International, Italy
Winterthur-Europe Assurances, Luxembourg
Winterthur-Europe Vie, Luxembourg
Winterthur Verzekeringen, Netherlands
Winterthur Leven, Netherlands
DBV Verzekeringen, Netherlands
Winterthur International, Netherlands
Winterthur S.A, Poland
Winterthur Zycie, Poland
Winterthur PTE, Poland
Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeniowe
Winterthur S.A. Poland
Winterthur International, Poland
Europeia Seguros, Portugal
Winterthur International, Portugal
Winterthur Seguros, Spain
Winterthur Vida, Spain
Winterthur Salud, Spain
Winterthur Asistencia, Spain
Winterthur Pensiones, Spain
Winterthur International, Spain
Winterthur International, Sweden
Winterthur Insurance, Switzerland
Winterthur Life & Pensions, Switzerland
Winterthur Versicherungen, Switzerland
Webinsurance, Switzerland
Winterthur-Columna, Switzerland
Winterthur-ARAG Rechtsschutz, Switzerland
Eidgenössische, Switzerland
Swissline, Switzerland
Wincare, Switzerland
Service Center, Switzerland
Winterthur International, Switzerland
Winterthur Life, UK
Churchill Insurance, UK
NIG, UK
Winterthur International, UK
Biography
Lukas Mühlemann- Chairman
Lukas Mühlemann is chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Group, Zurich, a position to which he was appointed on January 1, 1997. At the annual general meeting of May 26, 2000, he was elected to the group's board of directors and succeeded Rainer Gut as chairman. He is a member of the board of directors of Credit Suisse and Credit Suisse First Boston.
In 1977, he joined the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he was elected principal in 1982 and director in 1986. In 1989, he was appointed managing director of McKinsey's Swiss offices, and in 1990 he became a member of the board of directors of McKinsey & Company, in New York.
Mühlemann joined Swiss Re in September 1994 as chief executive officer and was made managing director of that organisation in November 1994. In November 1996, he was elected deputy chairman.
Born in 1950, Mühlemann studied business law at University of St. Gallen in Switzerland from 1969 to 1973, and business administration at the Harvard Business School from 1975 to 1977. From 1973 to 1975, he worked at IBM in systems engineering and marketing.
Key personnel
Board of directors:
Lukas Mühlemann, chairman
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, vice chairman
Thomas Bechtler
Marc-Henri Chaudet
Gerald Clark
Walter Kielholz
Thomas Schmidheiny
Vreni Spoerry
Aziz Syriani
Daniel Vasella
