Nationale Suisse sells its Group life business to Swiss Life and enters into mutual distribution agreement

Subject to the necessary official approval, Nationale Suisse shall transfer its whole Group life business to Swiss Life retrospectively as of 1 January 2011. The 32 employees from the insurance business are being taken on by Swiss Life. In addition, both companies have entered into a mutual distribution agreement. Nationale Suisse shall exclusively offer Swiss Life Group life products. Swiss Life shall offer its clients Nationale Suisse non-life products.

Nationale Suisse sells Group life to Swiss Life
The sale of the Group life business is an important strategic step for Nationale Suisse. The challenging operating environment makes it increasingly difficult in the medium-term for Nationale Suisse, as a small provider, to generate the target returns on the capital employed in this business area. For this reason Nationale Suisse looked into the possibility of selling the Group life business.

In Swiss Life, Nationale Suisse has found an ideal product partner who will take over and continue the Group life business. As a result, its own sales force in Switzerland will have a leading range of products with excellent services at its disposal. Subject to approval from the authorities, the deal will be concluded in the first half of 2011. The selling price is not being disclosed.

32 employees who have hitherto been responsible for the Group life business are being taken on by Swiss Life on the same terms and conditions. In addition, the employees shall receive the assurance that there will be no redundancies on economic grounds until at least 31 March 2012. Swiss Life is intending to integrate the administration of the Nationale Suisse portfolio into her own structures in the medium-term. In this case Swiss Life will, where possible, offer the employees new job opportunities internally or provide individual support to help them redirect their careers externally within the framework of the programme of measures agreed with the social partners appointed by the company.

Close cooperation in Group life and non-life
Swiss Life has an excellent reputation in the Swiss Group life business and an attractive range of products. The distribution agreement, therefore, puts Nationale Suisse in a position of being able to continue offering its existing and new clients Group life products with a strong partner at its side.

For its part, Swiss Life will sell non-life products from the Nationale Suisse range. The focus will be on our specialty lines products, e.g. art, engineering and marine insurance.

“We are convinced that with the transaction and the joint distribution agreement a win-win situation has been created for both sides. We shall provide our clients with a comprehensive range of products from an outstanding provider”, says Hans Künzle, CEO of Nationale Suisse.

Nationale Suisse strategy in the domestic market of Switzerland
Nationale Suisse is continuing to pursue its differentiation strategy in the retail and SME business and offers all non-life and individual life products under its own brand, with the exception of the Group life business. In addition, the specialty lines business (engineering, marine, HNWI/art, credit life, travel and direct) is being developed vigorously. In the individual life business, Nationale Suisse greatly enhanced its range of products at the end of 2010. Six new unit-linked life insurance products were launched in cooperation with Pictet. This is a first step towards being able to meet market requirements better while continuing to offer clients attractive insurance solutions.

Disclaimer
This press release is intended to inform the general public about particular events and developments related to the business performance of the company. The information contained does not constitute a solicitation, an offer or a recommendation for transactions concerning financial instruments or other products of Nationale Suisse or any other type of legal transaction. This press release may contain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements reflect the outlook and expectations of Nationale Suisse, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors can lead to actual developments and results significantly deviating from the expectations of Nationale Suisse. Attention is furthermore explicitly drawn to the fact that statements and projections contained in this press release by nature may be selective. Nationale Suisse neither implicitly nor explicitly makes representation or provides warranty for the correctness and completeness of statements and projections contained in this press release. Neither Nationale Suisse nor its directors, officers and members of its management assume liability for damages or losses which may directly or indirectly arise from the use of information contained in this press release. Unless in cases in which it is obliged to do so by mandatory legislation, Nationale Suisse is under no obligation to revise or change its forward-looking statements to take account of new information, future events or for any other reason.