Annual General Meeting of Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd
The Annual General Meeting of Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd was held today in Basel. In a consultative vote, shareholders were able for the first time to vote on the 2010 compensation report. Hans-Jörg Vetter was newly elected to the Board of Directors, and shareholders approved a further term of office for all Board members who were put forward for re-election. All other proposals made by the Board were accepted as well. The new customer service centres were also presented to the shareholders.
The 229 shareholders who attended represented a total of 5 697 613 registered shares. Including shares represented by proxy, a total of 10 275 886 votes were represented, which corresponds to 74.28% of voting shares and 46.60% of total share capital. The shareholders approved the annual report, annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for 2010, as well as the distribution of a cash dividend of CHF 1.50 per share with a 4.6% dividend yield.
2010 compensation report approved
The Board of Directors held a consultative vote for the first time on the compensation report, the latter being approved by 95.0% of the shareholders. The 2010 compensation report provides details on corporate governance and explains the principles behind the compensation model in place at Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd. The report also states the compensation received by the members of the Board of Directors and Executive Board as required by the Swiss Code of Obligations. In addition, it details the principles applied in 2010 for overall compensation of all the Group’s employees.
Elections to the Board of Directors
Hans-Jörg Vetter, CEO of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), was newly elected to the Board of Directors for a term of three years. Existing Board members Balz Hösly and Peter A. Kaemmerer were re-elected for the same period.
Amendments to the Articles of Association in shareholders’ favour
Shareholders approved the Board of Directors’ proposal to reduce the term of office of all Board of Directors members from four to three years. They also approved the lowering of the number of voting shares entered in the share register required in order to place items on the Annual General Meeting agenda from a par value of CHF 400 000 to CHF 200 000. The Articles of Association have been modified accordingly.
New customer service centres
At the Annual General Meeting, the new customer service centres in Bottmingen, Lausanne and Lugano were presented to the shareholders. The centres were established last year as part of the "Schlagkraft Schweiz" business model. They offer customers a further professional point of contact and enable the sales organisation to boost its customer focus. By undertaking this comprehensive reorganisation in the customer support area, Nationale Suisse has considerably improved its service quality once again.
The film about the new customer service centres can be accessed here (in the original language):
Nationale Suisse is an innovative, international and independent Swiss insurance group providing first-rate risk and pension solutions in non-life and life business as well as a growing number of tailored specialty lines products. Consolidated gross premiums came to CHF 1.8 billion (2010). The Group comprises the parent company and about 20 subsidiaries with focused product lines in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Malaysia and Latin America.
The headquarters of Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd is in Basel. Nationale Suisse is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (NATN). On 31 December 2010, the Group employed 1,948 staff (full-time equivalents).
Disclaimer and exclusion of liability
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.
Updated information will be available on our website www.nationalesuisse.ch as of the date of publication. This may include further details and projections concerning the business performance of Nationale Suisse.
|Press release General Meeting 2011||PDF|