The FINANCIAL -- Swiss Re Ltd. secures USD 400 million in natural catastrophe coverage through a newly-formed issuer Mythen Ltd., a flexible programme that allows Swiss Re to cede wind risks in both the United States and Europe to the capital markets.

The FINANCAIL -- Swiss Re reports very strong first-quarter net income of USD 1.1 billion in comparison to a loss of USD -665 million in the year-earlier period.

The FINANCIAL -- Swiss Re, in conjunction with PlanetSoft, has launched an Americas first end-to-end underwriting platform that supports the underwriting rules already used in 80% of the life market.

The FINANCIAL -- Munich Re is to pay an unchanged dividend of €6.25 per share for the financial year 2011, its payout to shareholders thus again surpassing €1.1bn.

The FINANCIAL -- In-force group risk premiums rose by 2.9% in 2011, reversing the negative trend of the past two years according to Group Watch 2012 report, which Swiss Re releases today.