declining annual result due to a difficult year-end

The reinsurer recorded a decline in its annual net profit, penalized by the sharp drop in its performance in the fourth quarter. For the year, net income was down 9% to 4.2 billion Swiss francs, better than expected. But in the fourth quarter, it rose from 1322 billion francs to 170 million. Over the year, the group suffered a loss of 240 million francs in loans structured. However, the premiums increased from 7.3% to 31.7 billion, a performance in line with expectations.

The combined ratio of the group took him less degraded than expected, it reached 90.2% in 2007 to 90% in 2006 but 93% expected. For the financial year 2007, Swiss Re will propose a dividend of 4 Swiss francs, up from 3.40 francs a year earlier.

Jacques Aigrain, chief executive of the group said that this was the second best score of the group in 144 years of existence. The division Risks and Damage has registered its best performance of all time according to the group, which also highlights the positive development of business investment, despite the difficulties of the market.

Relying on the latest movements, Swiss Re estimated that it will record a further loss on the CDS structured credit of 240 million Swiss francs. But he says that the devaluation was offset by the positive developments of its investment portfolio