About SERV
Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV helps to preserve and create jobs in Switzerland. It promotes Switzerland as a business location by making it easier for Swiss exporters to compete internationally.
Minimise risks. Maximise exports.
Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV supports Swiss companies with their export transactions and makes it easier for them to access foreign markets. SERV Compact provides you with an overview of the best insurance and guarantee products for your needs, along with details of how to obtain them.
SERV is an institution under the public law of the Swiss Confederation and is independent in its management. The organisation chart can be found here. SERV employs around 90 members of staff. The organisation is subject to the supervision of the Federal Council, which appoints the Board of Directors and defines the strategic objectives for four years at a time.
Legal basis for SERV’s activities
SERV’s business policy is derived from the SERV Act and the SERV Ordinance, as well as the strategic requirements of the Federal Council. The SERV Act also determines the basis of the requirements that an insurance transaction must meet. If these requirements are met, SERV is able to insure the transaction. SERV complies with the commitments that Switzerland has signed up to under international agreements, including the OECD Export Credit Arrangement and the Berne Union Guiding Principles.
Subsidiarity
SERV’s insurance policies are supplementary to those offered by the private sector (Art. 6 para. 1 let. d SERVG). In principle, it insures only risks that are not marketable or for which insufficient private insurance options exist. SERV bases its distinction between marketable and non-marketable risks on the European Commission’s communications.
Economic viability
SERV operates on the principle of economic viability. This means that SERV’s premiums and other income must be sufficient to cover the risk and operating costs – meaning it functions without taxpayers’ money (Art. 6 para. 1 let. a SERVG).
Swiss content
SERV covers export transactions that are of Swiss origin or include an appropriate degree of Swiss content; an appropriate share of Swiss content being at least 20 per cent of the export transaction’s order value.
If the proportion of Swiss content is less than 20 per cent, an export transaction may still be insurable under certain conditions and at the exporter’s request. Where this is the case, SERV checks whether
- the value-adding activities of the exporter in Switzerland are the decisive factor in the successful conclusion of the export transaction or the overall success of the company, and
- insuring the individual export transactions contributes to creating and maintaining jobs at the company in Switzerland.
History of SERV
On 1 January 2007, Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV replaced Export Risk Guarantee (ERG), which had already been making an important contribution towards the economic development of Switzerland since being founded in 1934 – originally as a measure to combat unemployment. Dr Hans-Peter Bärtschi, an industrial and economic historian, has traced the history of ERG for you in the context of global economic developments.
Today, SERV is a modern, internationally recognised export credit agency (ECA) that has already helped countless companies – both big and small – to export their goods and services. SERV has been pursuing the same objectives from the very beginning: to promote Switzerland as a location of business and to create and safeguard jobs in Switzerland.
