SWISS RE GAINS JAPANESE LICENCE, PLANS APRIL BRANCH OPENING

Swiss Re has been granted a branch licence by Japanese regulators permitting it to begin offering p/c and life/health reinsurance services across the country. The new branch, which is scheduled to begin trading by April, will make Swiss Re the first major global reinsurer to run a fully licensed branch in Japan. Hailing the licence, CEO John Coomber noted that the reinsurer’s relationship with the Japanese market dated back to 1913 and added that the firm currently operates as a services company in Japan — a unit “which was established in 1999 to provide a service interface between local clients and the company’s global expertise”. Swiss Re is also one of several reinsurers currently seeking to expand into China, though late last year it was beaten by Munich Re to the prize of becoming the first reinsurer to launch in China, when Munich Re opened a branch in Beijing.