Urs Berger is the new Chairman of the Swiss Insurance Association

Zurich, 23 June 2011 – After four years at the helm, Erich Walser stepped down as Chairman of the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) at its Annual General Meeting today. The former Vice-Chairman of the SIA, Urs Berger, was elected ad personam by the delegates as the new Chairman of the Swiss Insurance Association for the remainder of the 2009 – 2012 term of office. Berger is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mobiliar Holding AG and of Schweizerische Mobiliar Genossenschaft.

At today’s Annual General Meeting, Olav Noack, Representative of Baloise Insurance, and Pierre-Marcel Revaz, Chairman of Groupe Mutuel, both resigned. Newly elected for the remainder of the 2009 – 2012 term of office to the positions that had become vacant on the SIA Board were:

• Thomas J. Grichting, CEO Health Insurance Division and General Secretary, Groupe Mutuel
• Markus Hongler, CEO, Die Mobiliar
• Michael Müller, CEO of Baloise Insurance Switzerland and Member of the Corporate Executive Committee of the Baloise Group.

Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf delivered the guest lecture. Taking “Financial policy in an international setting» as her theme, she spoke about aspects of finance relevant to the Swiss insurance industry and commented on the international context: «Financial politics is international politics. We want stable and open markets. Indeed, that is where our future lies.”

In his final Chairman’s address, Erich Walser explored the significance of modern trade associations as relevant players in an ever more complex political and economic environment, in which it is often only the specialists who truly understand their own particular areas. In this connection Walser highlighted the role of the Swiss Insurance Association as an intermediary within the political system: “The members of the Federal Assembly are increasingly being confronted with very specific and complex matters and have to make decisions that are binding, fair and sensible for all parties concerned. In order to do so, they require specific information which can generally only be provided by industry organisations such as the SIA.”

In his report, Lucius Dürr, CEO of the SIA, spoke about the core topics that the association concentrated on in 2010 as part of its representation of interests. The main focus was on supervisory issues – also at the European level – and their impact both in Switzerland and abroad, as well as on key legislative changes: primarily in connection with the forthcoming overhaul of the Federal Act on Insurance Contracts (FAIC) and the set of problems arising from the imminent expansion of state monopolies.

The writer and philosopher Ludwig Hasler also delivered a guest lecture on the theme “Mit Sicherheit weniger Freiheit” (Security and freedom – a conflict of interest) taking his audience to the limits of the liberal system from the perspective of maximum possible security for individuals and society as a whole.

• Annual Report 2010