Corporate History 1921 - 1930
| previous 1911 - 1920 |
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1923 |
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The world-famous physicist and humanist Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his contribution to the quantum theory. Before that, in 1905 in Berne, he had produced an epoch-making paper setting out his special theory of relativity. Working on a generalisation of the relativity principle from 1907, he published the general theory of relativity in Berlin in 1916. |
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Air traffic develops at a rate which, even a few years earlier, nobody would have dared to predict. Swiss Re decides to write Aviation Hull reinsurance business |
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The share capital is raised from 20 to 30 million Swiss francs. At the same time, the 10,000 registered shares hitherto in circulation at a nominal value of 2000 Swiss francs are converted into 20,000 registered shares at a nominal value of 1000 Swiss francs. |
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The Group’s subsequent expansion is concentrated on Europe, where Swiss Re has shares in a total of 31 insurance companies, mostly direct insurers, in 11 countries, with the main emphasis on Germany. These post-war years also form the basis for the current close relationship with the 'German Group'. |
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In New York, Swiss Re founds the North American Reassurance Company, the first professional reinsurance company to write exclusively Life business on the American market. After a few dramatic years, the new company assumes a leading position. |
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| 1924 |
Swiss Re is able to acquire the majority shareholding of the Bavarian Reinsurance Company in Munich, founded in 1911. The company plays an extremely valuable role, especially in the years after the Second World War, when it is no longer possible to maintain direct relations with German treaty partners during the allied occupation of Germany. |
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In Zurich-Enge the track of the Gotthard railway is transferred into a tunnel, leaving room to extend the Mythenquai office building on the side away from the lake. The six tennis courts, set up in 1924, remain until the summer of 1965. |
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| 1925 |
The 'automated office' arrives at the Mythenquai. Swiss Re acquires Powers punched card machines which remain in use until 1939. |
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Charlie Chaplin’s 'The Gold Rush', one of his early, immortal classics, is released in 1925. Chaplin is regarded above all as a creative genius of film comedy and as the star of tragicomic stories which give silent film an art form of its own. |
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A national referendum adopts a constitutional article providing for the introduction of Old Age, Surviving Dependents’ and Disability insurance. In 1947 the electorate accept the corresponding federal law on Old Age and Surviving Dependents’ insurance. This is conceived as the basic insurance to supplement company pension schemes and private old age provision. |
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| 1927 | |||||||||||||
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On 20/21 Mai 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh makes the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris. His Ryan high-wing Monoplane named 'Spirit of St. Louis' takes 35 hours for the 6,000 kilometre journey. |
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| 1928 |
Swiss Re founds the Intercontinental Investment Corporation (Zurich) in November 1928. The purpose of the new corporation is to secure long-term interests in all types of domestic and foreign companies through the purchase of shares or bonds. As the founding company, Swiss Re offers its shareholders an I.I.C share for every one of its own shares with a nominal value of 500 Swiss francs. However, the disturbed political and economic situation during the 30s prevents any real, far-reaching success. The Intercontinental Investment Corporation's business activities are closed down in December 1937. |
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| 1929 |
On 8 June 1929, the General Meeting resolves to increase the share capital from 30 to 50 million Swiss francs. |
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Following the stock market crash of 29 October in New York, 1929 goes down in the annuals of economic history as a year of misfortune. The crash triggers an unparalleled economic crisis throughout the world. Swiss Re also suffers immense losses. |
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| previous 1911 - 1920 |
