Zurich Financial Services

To add to Hüppi's problems, Zurich recorded a net loss of $387 million for the financial year ending December 2001. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the US cost Zurich an estimated $900 million in insurance payouts. Because of the significant price decline in technology stocks and poor performance in the equity markets across the globe, Zurich's realized capital gains from equity investments also fell down by $2.3 billion in 2001.

Analysts considered it to be a result of Zurich's overexposure to Internet stocks. With lot of criticism against the mismanagement of Hüppi and the company coming into losses, the Board of Directors of Zurich finally appointed James J. Schiro as the CEO on May 17, 2002.

The company believed in providing quality services to its customers, and offering them innovative products on a continuous basis. By 1880, almost 80 percent of Zurich's revenues came from outside Switzerland. Germany was the biggest market for Zurich contributing to 60 percent of its revenues, while the remaining revenues came from France, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium. By 1894, Zurich had expanded its operations in Prussia, Norway, Holland, Spain, Poland, Belorussia, Russia, Italy, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. In the same year, Zurich changed its name to "Zürich" Allgemeine Unfall & Haftpflicht-Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft (as a result of shifting from marine insurance to accident and liability insurance)...