Shareholders' equity Shareholders' Equity (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Shareholders' equity [Abstract]

Dividends Declared [Table Text Block]

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

Share Repurchase Program [Table Text Block]

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