5 facts about the found­ing of the Swiss In­sur­ance As­so­ci­a­tion SIA

On 27 October 1900 in Basel, participants at the “Directoren-Conferenz Schweizerischer Lebens-Versicherungs-Gesellschaften” discussed the industry's growing need for a central representative body. Since 1870, the SHIV had existed as a kind of umbrella organisation for the representation of economic interests. However, insurers were only organised in their respective cantonal sections. There was no separate section for insurers. This was to change. In a circular letter, the directors called on all insurance companies in Switzerland to join together to form a central association that would henceforth function as a section within the SHIV. The directors present seemed to have their finger on the pulse of the times, for just one and a half months later such an association was formed.

On 14 December 1900, 21 representatives of the country's main insurance companies met at “kilometre zero” in Olten. In the meeting room of the Board of Directors of the “Schweizerische Centralbahngesellschaft”, they decided to found the “Verband Concessionierter Schweizerischer Versicherungsgesellschaften”. The founding of the association included the adoption of a statute and the election of a five-member board. The statutes stipulated that the board should be composed of representatives of personal and property insurers. The board's main task was to elect the Association's delegates to the SHIV's delegates' meetings.

With six life insurers, two accident insurers, three fire insurers, five marine insurers, three reinsurers and two companies active in other lines of business, the new association perfectly reflected the great diversity of the insurance business. The founding members included some long-forgotten companies as well as AXA Winterthur, Baloise, Helvetia, Mobiliar, Swiss Life, Swiss Re and Zurich.

With no staff of its own and an honorary board, the financial burden on the members was kept to a minimum. The statutes provided for a membership fee of 20 francs, so that with 21 founding members and after paying the annual fee of 200 francs to the SHIV, the annual budget was only 220 francs.

Almost fifty years ago, the General Assembly of the “Verband konzessionierter schweizerischer Versicherungsgesellschaften” decided to drop the word “konzessionierte” (licensed) from its name and officially rename itself the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA). It seemed to have become superfluous to point out that its own members were licensed insurers. In 1900, when the SIA was founded, this was still of significance, however. Prior to the 1874 revision of the Swiss Constitution, all legislation concerning private insurance had been a cantonal matter.

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