Legal Notice

Please read the terms and conditions of use of Swiss Re’s site carefully. By accessing Swiss Re’s site and any pages thereof, you acknowledge your agreement with and understanding of the following terms of use and legal information pertaining to both Swiss Re’s site and any material on it. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions below, do not access Swiss Re’s site or any pages thereof. Local legal restrictions; Swiss Re's site is not directed to any person in any jurisdiction where - by reason of that person's nationality, residence or otherwise - the publication or availability of the Swiss Re's site is prohibited. Persons in respect of whom such prohibitions apply must not access Swiss Re’s site.

1 Copyright

Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. and/or its direct or indirect subsidiaries (herein after referred to collectively as "Swiss Re", Mythenquai 50/60, 8022 Zurich, Switzerland) owns and retains all copyrights and other rights in the material that becomes available through Swiss Re's site. Similar rights of third parties remain reserved.

a) Any information, document and other items or portions thereof may be used for information and non-commercial purposes only.
b) Any information, document and other items or portions thereof copied, printed, stored or distributed must include Swiss Re's Legal Notice.
c) Any product, process or technology referred to in the information, documents or other items may be subject to other intellectual property rights of Swiss Re and are not made available hereunder.

Such right may be cancelled or withdrawn at any time by Swiss Re without notice and without giving any reason therefore.

2 Trademarks

Swiss Re, the Swiss Re logo and the Swiss Re product marks are registered trademarks of Swiss Re. All other product names and company names and logos mentioned in the information, documents or other items provided or available herein are the property of their respective owners.

When referring to Swiss Re as the source of material derived from Swiss Re's site or for any other objective, you agree not to use the Swiss Re logo and any other corporate names, trademarks or trade names of Swiss Re in a way that is incorrect, out-of-date, misleading, detrimental or leads to a free ride on Swiss Re's reputation.

3 Disclaimer of warranties

Swiss Re has used its discretion, best judgement and all reasonable efforts in collecting and preparing the information, documents (incl. copy, graphics, pictures, etc.) or other items provided or available herein, but any such information, document or other item is provided or available without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the warranties of completeness, accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of any intellectual property rights. Swiss Re hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any kind of loss or damage including, but not limited to, any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages caused by errors or omissions in the information, documents or other items provided or available herein, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause. The information, documents or other items provided or available herein could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes can be periodically added to the information or documents provided or available herein. Swiss Re may make improvements and/or changes to the information or documents provided or available herein at any time.

4 External E-mail Disclaimer

This message is for the named person's use only.
E-mails, including attachments, are intended for the person(s) or company named and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. Unauthorized disclosure, copying or use of this information may be unlawful and is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message and notify the sender.
All incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are stored in the Swiss Re Electronic Message Repository. If you do not wish the retention of potentially private e-mails by Swiss Re, we strongly advise you not to use the Swiss Re e-mail account for any private, non-business related communications.

5 Cautionary note on forward-looking statements

Certain statements and illustrations contained herein are forward-looking. These statements and illustrations provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to a historical fact or current fact.

Forward-looking statements typically are identified by words or phrases such as “anticipate“, “assume“, “believe“, “continue“, “estimate“, “expect“, “foresee“, “intend“, “may increase“ and “may fluctuate“ and similar expressions or by future or conditional verbs such as “will“, “should“, “would“ and “could“. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Swiss Re’s actual results, performance, achievements or prospects to be materially different from any future results, performance, achievements or prospects expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others:

the direct and indirect impact of the continuing deterioration in the financial markets and the efficacy of efforts to strengthen financial institutions and stabilise the credit markets and the broader financial system;
changes in global economic conditions and the effects of the global economic downturn;
the occurrence of other unanticipated market developments or trends;
Swiss Re’s ability to maintain sufficient liquidity and access to capital markets, including sufficient liquidity to cover potential recapture of reinsurance agreements, early calls of debt or debt-like arrangements and collateral calls under derivative contracts due to actual or perceived deterioration of Swiss Re’s financial strength;
the effect of market conditions, including the global equity and credit markets, and the level and volatility of equity prices, interest rates, credit spreads, currency values and other market indices, on Swiss Re’s investment assets;
changes in Swiss Re’s investment result as a result of changes in its investment policy or the changed composition of Swiss Re’s investment assets, and the impact of the timing of any such changes relative to changes in market conditions;
uncertainties in valuing credit default swaps and other credit-related instruments;
possible inability to realise amounts on sales of securities on Swiss Re’s balance sheet equivalent to its mark-to-market values recorded for accounting purposes;
the outcome of tax audits, the ability to realise tax loss carryforwards and the ability to realise deferred tax assets (including by reason of the mix of earnings in a jurisdiction or deemed change of control), which could negatively impact future earnings;
the possibility that Swiss Re’s hedging arrangements may not be effective;
the lowering or loss of one of the financial strength or other ratings of one or more companies in the Group;
risks associated with implementing Swiss Re’s business strategies;
the cyclicality of the reinsurance industry;
uncertainties in estimating reserves;
the frequency, severity and development of insured claim events;
acts of terrorism and acts of war;
mortality and morbidity experience;
policy renewal and lapse rates;
extraordinary events affecting Swiss Re’s clients and other counterparties, such as bankruptcies, liquidations and other credit-related events;
political risks in the countries in which Swiss Re operates or in which it insures risks;
the impact of current, pending and future legislation, regulation and regulatory and legal actions;
the impact of changes in accounting standards;
the impact of significant investments, acquisitions or dispositions, and any delays, unexpected costs or other issues experienced in connection with any such transactions, including, in the case of acquisitions, issues arising in connection with integrating acquired operations;
changing levels of competition; and
operational factors, including the efficacy of risk management and other internal procedures in managing the foregoing risks.

These factors are not exhaustive. Swiss Re operates in a continually changing environment and new risks emerge continually. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Swiss Re undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

6 Liability for virus infected software

Whilst Swiss Re has used its discretion, best judgement and all reasonable efforts in maintaining Swiss Re's site virus free, it declines any liability for persons, property damage or especially direct, indirect, immediate or subsequent pecuniary loss which may result from transmission or downloading of computer viruses. Especially excluded is liability for hardware damage, loss of data, alteration of data, or downtime.

7 Links to a third party site

Links to a third party site will let you leave Swiss Re's site. The linked site is not under the control of Swiss Re and Swiss Re is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Swiss Re is providing these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any links does not imply endorsement by Swiss Re of the site. Following links to any off-site pages or other websites shall be at your own risk.

8 Technical access

Swiss Re does not assume any liability for timely, trouble-free and uninterrupted access to the Internet. Swiss Re declines any liability for persons, property damage or especially direct, indirect, immediate or subsequent pecuniary loss.

9 Severability clause

If any article, section or provision of these terms and conditions is found to be invalid, the remainder of them shall continue in full force and effect. Any terms and conditions which are null or void, are in this case to be understood such that their intended purpose is still fulfilled as far as possible.

10 Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

These terms and conditions shall be construed, enforced and performed in accordance with the laws of Switzerland without reference to principles of conflicts of laws. The place of jurisdiction is Zurich (City). You agree that any action at law or in equity that arises out of or relates to these terms will be filed only in the courts of the Canton of Zurich, and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action. Swiss Re makes no representation that any information, materials or functions included are appropriate for use in any other jurisdiction. If you access Swiss Re’s site you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail.

For further information on legal matters contact Swiss Re's Legal Department at

Swiss Reinsurance Company
Mythenquai 50/60
8022 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel. +41 43 285 2121, Fax +41 43 285 2999

Last update: 7 February 2006