ZURICH TO TRANSFER PART OF UK ANNUITY BUSINESS TO SWISS RE

The UK arm of Switzerland-based Zurich Financial Services is to transfer part of its annuity business to Swiss Re, Zurich said today. The business will in future be managed by Windsor Life Assurance Co, a subsidiary of Swiss Re. A reinsurance agreement has been signed by Swiss Re and Zurich under which the benefits and risks of the portfolio, as of January 1 this year and amounting to £3.7bn in assets and £3.9bn in liabilities, will be transferred to Swiss Re. Zurich has not been actively marketing its annuity business in the UK since 2005. It said that “the transaction is in line with Zurich’s current strategy to release capital and cash to focus on enhancing its propositions in its chosen target markets”. The annuity portfolio being transfers covers about 220,000 policies. Zurich said that the deal was likely to have a positive impact of about $100m on the European Embedded Value of Zurich.