Swiss Life 1Q26 First Take: better premium income than JPMe, but fee income in-line - little here to move consensus 

Research evidence excerpt

Swiss Life 1Q26 First Take: better premium income than JPMe, but fee income in-line - little here to move consensus

Farooq Hanif AC Europe Equity Research

(44 207) 742-8091 21 May 2026 J P M O R G A N

farooq.hanif@jpmorgan.com

Investment Thesis, Valuation and Risks

Swiss Life (Underweight; Price Target: CHF735.00)

Investment Thesis

Capital return potential lower than sector average. Swiss Life has a history of strong

improvement in cash remittances and cash returns to shareholders. Over the past decade, the

company’s total capital return ratio (as a percentage of IFRS profit) has increased from

~25% to >60%. Its total capital return of ~6% (with a dividend yield of ~4.5%) over 2026E

is below the sector, which offers an average total capital return of ~7%.

Limited growth in life insurance. We expect limited growth in Swiss Life’s Contractual

Service Margin (CSM) at a ~1% CAGR over 2024-27E, a key profit driver of the life

insurance business. This is due to subdued growth in the Swiss life insurance market (which

accounted for Swiss Life’s ~50% life premiums at FY23) resulting from its mature status,

limited profitability in group life products (e.g. relatively high guaranteed rates relative to

interest rates) and less attractive individual life products owing to lower Swiss bond yields

and lack of tax benefits.

Fee-based business deserves a higher multiple, but more than priced in. On a sum-of-

the-parts valuation basis, we believe Swiss Life deserves a higher multiple on its fee

businesses, given its solid outlook and lower capital consumption. However, based on Swiss

Life’s premium valuation to the sector, we believe this is more than priced in. In addition,

we see downside risks to fee earnings (accounting for ~50% of Swiss Life’s profit) from