Shareholders' equity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Shareholders' equity

Shareholders’ equity

All of Chubb’s Common Shares are authorized under Swiss corporate law. Though the par value of Common Shares is stated in Swiss francs, Chubb continues to use U.S. dollars as its reporting currency for preparing consolidated financial statements. Under Swiss corporate law, dividends, including distributions through a reduction in par value (par value reduction) or from legal reserves, must be stated in Swiss francs though dividend payments are made by Chubb in U.S. dollars. At March 31, 2016, our Common Shares had a par value of CHF 24.15 per share.

At our May 2014 annual general meeting, our shareholders approved an annual dividend for the following year of $2.60 per share, payable in four quarterly installments of $0.65 per share after the annual general meeting in the form of a distribution by way of a par value reduction.

At our May 2015 annual general meeting, our shareholders approved an annual dividend for the following year of up to $2.68 per share, which was paid in four quarterly installments of $0.67 per share at dates determined by the Board of Directors (Board) after the annual general meeting by way of a distribution from capital contribution reserves, transferred to free reserves for payment.

The following table presents dividend distributions per Common Share in Swiss francs (CHF) and U.S. dollars (USD):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31
	2016			2015
	CHF	USD		CHF	USD
Dividends – par value reduction	—	$		0.62	$	0.65
Dividends – distributed from capital contribution reserves	0.66	0.67		—	—
Total dividend distributions per common share	0.66	$	0.67	0.62	$	0.65

Common Shares in treasury are used principally for issuance upon the exercise of employee stock options, grants of restricted stock, and purchases under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). At March 31, 2016, 15,500,344 Common Shares remain in treasury after net shares redeemed under employee share-based compensation plans.

Chubb Limited securities repurchase authorization

In November 2014, the Board announced authorization of a share repurchase program of $1.5 billion of Chubb's Common Shares for the period January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015 to replace the previous authorization when it expired on December 31, 2014. There are no outstanding repurchase authorizations subsequent to December 31, 2015.

The following table presents repurchases of Chubb's Common Shares conducted in a series of open market transactions under the Board authorization:

(in millions of U.S. dollars, except share data)	Three Months Ended March 31
	2016		2015
Number of shares repurchased	—		3,027,463
Cost of shares repurchased	$	—	$	340
Repurchase authorization remaining at end of period	$	—	$	1,160