Employee Benefits

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Employee Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Benefits

(11)  Employee Benefits

(a) The Corporation has several non-contributory defined benefit pension plans covering substantially all employees. Prior to 2001, benefits were generally based on an employee’s years of service and average compensation during the last five years of employment. Effective January 1, 2001, the Corporation changed the formula for providing pension benefits from the final average pay formula to a cash balance formula. Under the cash balance formula, a notional account is established for each employee, which is credited semi-annually with an amount equal to a percentage of eligible compensation based on age and years of service plus interest based on the account balance. Employees hired prior to 2001 will generally be eligible to receive vested benefits based on the higher of the final average pay or cash balance formulas.

The Corporation’s funding policy is to contribute amounts that meet regulatory requirements plus additional amounts determined by management based on actuarial valuations, market conditions and other factors. This may result in no contribution being made in a particular year.

The Corporation also provides certain other postretirement benefits, principally health care and life insurance, to retired employees and their beneficiaries and covered dependents. Substantially all employees hired before January 1, 1999 may become eligible for these benefits upon retirement if they meet minimum age and years of service requirements. Health care coverage is contributory. Retiree contributions vary based upon a retiree’s age, type of coverage and years of service with the Corporation. Life insurance coverage is non-contributory.

The Corporation funds a portion of the health care benefits obligation where such funding can be accomplished on a tax effective basis. Benefits are paid as covered expenses are incurred.

The funded status of the pension and other postretirement benefit plans at December 31, 2011 and 2010 was as follows:

							Other
	Pension						Postretirement
	Benefits						Benefits
	2011			2010			2011			2010
	(in millions)
Benefit obligation, beginning of year	$	2,114		$	1,900		$	392		$	338
Service cost		79			75			11			11
Interest cost		120			112			22			21
Actuarial loss		256			92			40			32
Benefits paid		(75	)		(63	)		(11	)		(11	)
Foreign currency translation effect		—			(2	)		—			1
Benefit obligation, end of year		2,494			2,114			454			392
Plan assets at fair value		2,001			1,922			73			65
Funded status at end of year, included in other liabilities	$	493		$	192		$	381		$	327

Net actuarial loss and prior service cost included in accumulated other comprehensive income that were not yet recognized as components of net benefit costs at December 31, 2011 and 2010 were as follows:

					Other
	Pension				Postretirement
	Benefits				Benefits
	2011		2010		2011		2010
	(in millions)
Net actuarial loss	$	928	$	637	$	122	$	80
Prior service cost		20		24		—		—
	$	948	$	661	$	122	$	80

The accumulated benefit obligation for the pension plans was $2,120 million and $1,784 million at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The accumulated benefit obligation is the present value of pension benefits earned as of the measurement date based on employee service and compensation prior to that date. It differs from the pension benefit obligation in the table on the previous page in that the accumulated benefit obligation includes no assumptions regarding future compensation levels.

The weighted average assumptions used to determine the benefit obligations were as follows:

									Other
									Postretirement
	Pension Benefits								Benefits
	2011				2010				2011			2010
Discount rate		5	.0	%		5	.75	%		5.0	%		5.75	%
Rate of compensation increase		4	.5			4	.5			—			—

The Corporation made pension plan contributions of $94 million and $207 million during 2011 and 2010, respectively. The Corporation made other postretirement benefit plan contributions of $10 million during 2011 and 2010.

The components of net pension and other postretirement benefit costs reflected in net income and other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 were as follows:

										Other
	Pension Benefits									Postretirement Benefits
	2011			2010			2009			2011			2010			2009
	(in millions)
Costs reflected in net income
Service cost	$	79		$	75		$	73		$	11		$	11		$	10
Interest cost		120			112			104			22			21			19
Expected return on plan assets		(140	)		(131	)		(118	)		(5	)		(4	)		(4	)
Amortization of net actuarial loss and prior service cost and other		68			64			46			3			2			1
	$	127		$	120		$	105		$	31		$	30		$	26

Changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income
Net actuarial loss (gain)	$	355		$	16		$	(83	)	$	45		$	30		$	(4	)
Amortization of net actuarial loss and prior service cost and other		(68	)		(64	)		(46	)		(3	)		(2	)		(1	)
	$	287		$	(48	)	$	(129	)	$	42		$	28		$	(5	)

The estimated aggregate net actuarial loss and prior service cost that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net benefit costs during 2012 for the pension and other postretirement benefit plans is $86 million.

The weighted average assumptions used to determine net pension and other postretirement benefit costs were as follows:

										Other
	Pension Benefits									Postretirement Benefits
	2011			2010			2009			2011			2010			2009
Discount rate		5.75	%		6.0	%		6.0	%		5.75	%		6.0	%		6.0	%
Rate of compensation increase		4.5			4.5			4.5			—			—			—
Expected long term rate of return on plan assets		7.75			8.0			8.0			7.75			8.0			8.0

The weighted average health care cost trend rate assumptions used to measure the expected cost of medical benefits were as follows:

	December 31
	2011			2010
Health care cost trend rate for next year		8.1	%		8.4	%
Rate to which the cost trend rate is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)		4.5			4.5
Year that the rate reaches the ultimate trend rate		2028			2028

The health care cost trend rate assumption has a significant effect on the amount of the accumulated other postretirement benefit obligation and the net other postretirement benefit cost reported. To illustrate, a one percent increase or decrease in the trend rate for each year would increase or decrease the accumulated other postretirement benefit obligation at December 31, 2011 by approximately $79 million and the aggregate of the service and interest cost components of net other postretirement benefit cost for the year ended December 31, 2011 by approximately $6 million.

The long term objective of the pension plan is to provide sufficient funding to cover expected benefit obligations, while assuming a prudent level of portfolio risk. The assets of the pension plan are invested, either directly or through pooled funds, in a diversified portfolio of predominately U.S. equity securities and fixed maturities. The Corporation seeks to obtain a rate of return that over time equals or exceeds the returns of the broad markets in which the plan assets are invested. The target allocation of plan assets is 55% to 65% invested in equity securities, with the remainder primarily invested in fixed maturities. The Corporation rebalances its pension assets to the target allocation as market conditions permit. The Corporation determined the expected long term rate of return assumption for each asset class based on an analysis of the historical returns and the expectations for future returns. The expected long term rate of return for the portfolio is a weighted aggregation of the expected returns for each asset class.

The fair values of the pension plan assets were as follows:

	December 31
	2011		2010
	(in millions)
Short term investments	$	45	$	64
Fixed maturities
U.S. government and government agency and authority obligations		207		168
Corporate bonds		290		272
Foreign government and government agency obligations		62		41
Mortgage-backed securities		176		157
Total fixed maturities		735		638
Equity securities		1,174		1,181
Other assets		47		39
	$	2,001	$	1,922

At December 31, 2011 and 2010, pension plan assets invested in pooled funds were $1,073 million and $1,035 million, respectively.

At December 31, 2011 and 2010, other postretirement benefit plan assets were invested in a pooled fund and had a fair value of $73 million and $65 million, respectively.

The estimated benefits expected to be paid in each of the next five years and in the aggregate for the following five years are as follows:

			Other
	Pension		Postretirement
Years Ending December 31	Benefits		Benefits
	(in millions)
2012	$	83	$	13
2013		89		15
2014		98		16
2015		135		18
2016		111		19
2017-2021		714		124

(b) The Corporation has a defined contribution benefit plan, the Capital Accumulation Plan, in which substantially all employees are eligible to participate. Under this plan, the employer makes an annual matching contribution equal to 100% of each eligible employee’s pre-tax elective contributions, up to 4% of the employee’s eligible compensation. Contributions are invested at the election of the employee in Chubb’s common stock or in various other investment funds. Employer contributions were $27 million in 2011, $28 million in 2010 and $27 million in 2009.