1913

Kobe

United Arab Emirates

In the early 1900s, Japanese insurers began buying cover from the specialist reinsurers that had emerged in Europe.

Swiss Re signed its first contract in Japan in 1913. It was a fire reinsurance contract with Kobe Marine Transport & Fire Insurance (Kobe Kaijo Unso Kasai Hoken Kabushiki Kaisha). Personal contact was finally made when a member of Swiss Re's board visited Japan in 1919. T. Okazaki, then president of Kobe Marine, also visited Switzerland at the end of the First World War, together with the insurer's managing director, Mr. Mikumo.

These visits were followed three years later in 1922 when Swiss Re manager, Paul Alther, toured Japan visiting the country's insurers, promoting the Swiss Re brand and learning more about the market.

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