In an announcement last week, the company said that the move will enable Swiss Life to benefit from growth opportunities in Asia within the rapidly expanding global market in structured insurance solutions for international high net worth individuals.

The opening ceremony on 8 April will be attended by the Swiss Ambassador to Singapore and the director of Singapore's financial market supervisory authority.

Swiss Life is a leading provider of structured life and pension solutions for international high net worth individuals, a business it has been conducting very successfully so far in Europe from its Luxembourg and Liechtenstein locations. Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG is now opening a branch office in Singapore in order to boost its marketing strength in the fast-growing Asian market. The product portfolio comprises customised concepts for private placement life insurance and combines individual asset management with attractive retirement planning. Swiss Life cooperates with leading private banks and independent asset managers to sell these products. The branch in Singapore will be headed by Thomas Vonrueti, who will lead a team of seven in the start-up phase.

In the words of Bruno Pfister, CEO International of the Swiss Life Group: “The Asian market offers great growth potential in this attractive segment. In Singapore, we are ideally positioned to expand into further markets in the region. The new location represents an important addition, enabling us to serve our customers from three competency centres in the future.”

At the end of 2007 Swiss Life consolidated its business in structured life and pension products for international high net worth individuals under one leadership. This business was previously conducted separately in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, and involves assets under management of CHF9 billion (USD8.79 billion) and a staff of 100. In 2007, the premium income amounted to over CHF3 billion.