Shareholders' equity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

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 the 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, 2021, our Common Shares had a par value of CHF 24.15 per share.

At our May 2020 and 2019 annual general meetings, our shareholders approved annual dividends for the following year of up to $3.12 per share and $3.00 per share, respectively, which were paid in four quarterly installments of $0.78 per share and $0.75 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, 2021 and 2020 were $0.78 (CHF 0.70) and $0.75 (CHF 0.72), respectively.

Increases in Common Shares in treasury are due to open market repurchases of Common Shares and the surrender of Common Shares to satisfy tax withholding obligations in connection with the vesting of restricted stock and the forfeiture of unvested restricted stock. Decreases in Common Shares in treasury are principally due to grants of restricted stock, exercises of stock options, purchases under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), and share cancellations. At March 31, 2021, 27,928,305 Common Shares remain in treasury after share repurchases and 2,054,334 net shares issued under employee share-based compensation plans.

Chubb Limited securities repurchase authorizations

In November 2019, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of Chubb's Common Shares from November 21, 2019 through December 31, 2020. In November 2020, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of Chubb's Common Shares from November 19, 2020 through December 31, 2021. The $1.5 billion November 2019 Board authorization remained effective through December 31, 2020. Repurchases through December 31, 2020 were made under this authorization. In February 2021, the Board approved an increase to the November 2020 share repurchase program of $1.0 billion to a total of $2.5 billion, effective through December 31, 2021.

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				April 1, 2021 through April 29, 2021
			March 31
(in millions of U.S. dollars, except share data)	2021		2020
Number of shares repurchased	3,110,000		2,266,150			450,000
Cost of shares repurchased	$	519	$	326		$	76
Repurchase authorization remaining at end of period	$	1,982	$	1,124		$	1,906