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, 2019, our Common Shares had a par value of CHF 24.15 per share.

At our May 2018 and 2017 annual general meetings, our shareholders approved an annual dividend for the following year of up to $2.92 per share and $2.84 per share, respectively, which was paid in four quarterly installments of $0.73 per share and $0.71 per share, respectively, at dates determined by the Board of Directors (Board) after the annual general meetings by way of a distribution from capital contribution reserves, transferred to free reserves for payment.

Dividend distributions per Common Share for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were $0.73 (CHF 0.72) and $0.71 (CHF 0.66), respectively.

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, 2019, 21,604,659 Common Shares remain in treasury after net shares redeemed under employee share-based compensation plans.

Chubb Limited securities repurchase authorization

In December 2017, the Board authorized a share repurchase program of $1.0 billion of Chubb's Common Shares from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018. In December 2018, our Board authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of Chubb's Common Shares from December 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.

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



	Three Months Ended March 31				April 1, 2019 through May 1, 2019
(in millions of U.S. dollars, except share data)	2019		2018		April 1, 2019 through May 1, 2019
Number of shares repurchased	2,753,754		—		550,000
Cost of shares repurchased	$	367	$	—	$	77
Repurchase authorization remaining at end of period	$	1,112	$	1,000	$	1,035