Nationale Suisse To Publish Its First Annual Report Under IFRS For The 2009 Financial Year

Basel, Switzerland, Jan 17, 2008 - (Hugin via ABN Newswire) - Corporate news announcement processed and transmitted by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Nationale Suisse will publish its annual report under IFRS accounting standards for the first time for the 2009 financial year. The SWX Swiss Exchange granted a request made by Nationale Suisse to this effect, thereby approving postponement of its introduction by an additional year. This guarantees that Nationale Suisse's introduction of IFRS will be of sound and consistent quality.



Progress on the project to switch to IFRS as of spring 2007 failed to meet the expectations of the Board of Directors and Executive Board of Nationale Suisse. The design and architecture of the data in the accounting systems and the current project methodology failed to meet the requirements of the company given the volume of data that will need to be processed under IFRS.

Nationale Suisse gave Ernst & Young AG the mandate to head up the project to introduce and embed the new accounting standard within the company in July 2007. The closing of the 2009 financial year is viewed by the Board of Directors and Executive Board as a realistic introductory date for IFRS at Nationale Suisse. This status assessment gave Nationale Suisse cause in autumn 2007 to request postponement by an additional year of the introduction of the new accounting standard in the interests of investors and market participants on the stock exchange. The SWX Swiss Exchange approved this request on 30 November 2007.

To guarantee the switch to IFRS, National Suisse has taken the following measures: The additional position of Chief Accountant has been created in the CFO division and the team complemented by seasoned, highly-qualified IFRS experts.

Nationale Suisse will close the year with the IFRS accounting standard for the first time for the 2009 financial year. "We will assign top priority to the pursuit of this goal, drawing on all the resources necessary," stressed Thomas Widmer, CFO since April 2007. Nationale Suisse stressed that its current accounting standard Swiss GAAP FER already provides financial analysts, investors, the media and other interested parties with a transparent and comprehensible insight into the performance of the Nationale Suisse Group.



Brief profile

Nationale Suisse is an innovative, The headquarters of international Swiss insurer providing the Swiss National first-rate risk and pension solutions and Insurance Company is tailored niche products. The Group has gross in Basel. Nationale premiums of CHF 1.73 billion, 35.0 % of which Suisse is listed on come from their subsidiaries in Germany, the SWX Swiss Belgium, Italy and Spain. Exchange (NATN). On 30 June 2007 the Group employed 1,978 persons (1,843 FTEs).

Downloads

You can access this media release on our website www.nationalesuisse.ch under Medien/Medienmitteilung.



Information

Sabrina Pagnetti Head of Information & Communication Tel. +41 61 275 22 33 Fax +41 61 275 22 21 sabrina.pagnetti@nationalesuisse.ch

Nationale Suisse Steinengraben 41 4003 Basel www.nationalesuisse.ch
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Nationale Suisse Steinengraben 41 Basel

WKN: 1081197; ISIN: CH0010811971; Index: SMCI, SPI, SPIEX; Listed: Main Market in SWX Swiss Exchange;



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Nationale Suisse

http://www.nationalesuisse.ch

ISIN: CH0010811971

Stock Identifier: XSWX.NATN