Basel as an Insurance Centre — conclusion

Conclusion

Basel became an insurance centre in the 1860s, when Basel merchants and bankers founded fire, life and transport insurance companies in the aftermath of the great fire of Glarus of 1861, which had revealed the inadequacy of Swiss insurance capacity. The Basler Handelsbank participated in the foundation of Swiss Re in Zurich in 1863. The Basel insurers, for their part, formed the core of the group known today as Baloise. The mathematical tradition of the Bernoullis, the capital and expertise of the Basel merchants, the international orientation of the city and the demand of its industries explain this development. The federal supervision of private insurance introduced in 1885, half a century before the supervision of banks, and the Insurance Contract Act of 1908 created the legal framework.

Life insurance connected the actuarial tradition of Basel with the wealth planning that the private banks offered. Its documentation raised questions of information and liability that remain central to the protection of policyholders. The Basel insurers expanded abroad, above all into Germany, where they suffered losses in the hyperinflation of 1923 and adapted to the Nazi regime, including the confiscation of the policies of Jewish clients. Social insurance developed alongside private insurance, while the pension funds of the chemical industry became major investors. In 2025, Baloise and Helvetia agreed to merge into a group with its seat in Basel. The next chapter turns to the crises of the interwar period, the Second World War and the institution that made Basel the meeting place of the world's central banks.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.