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Shareholders' equity (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract] |
Dividends Declared [Table Text Block] | The following table presents dividend distributions per Common Share in Swiss francs (CHF) and U.S. dollars (USD):
| Year Ended December 31 |
|  |  | 2018 |  |  |  |  | 2017 |  |  |  |  | 2016 |
| CHF |  |  | USD |  |  | CHF |  |  | USD |  |  | CHF |  |  | USD |
Total dividend distributions per common share | 2.84 |  |  | $ | 2.90 |  |  | 2.76 |  |  | $ | 2.82 |  |  | 2.70 |  |  | $ | 2.74 |
Schedule of changes in Common Shares issued and outstanding |
| Year Ended December 31 |
| 2018 |  |  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |
Shares issued, beginning of year | 479,783,864 |  |  | 479,783,864 |  |  | 342,832,412 |
Shares issued for Chubb Corp acquisition | — |  |  | — |  |  | 136,951,452 |
Shares issued, end of year | 479,783,864 |  |  | 479,783,864 |  |  | 479,783,864 |
Common Shares in treasury, end of year (at cost) | (20,580,486 | ) |  | (15,950,685 | ) |  | (13,815,148 | )
Shares issued and outstanding, end of year | 459,203,378 |  |  | 463,833,179 |  |  | 465,968,716 |
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 authorizations:
| Year Ended December 31 |  |  | January 1, 2019 through |
(in millions of U.S. dollars, except share data) | 2018 |  |  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |  |  | February 27, 2019 |
Number of shares repurchased | 7,719,035 |  |  | 5,866,612 |  |  | — |  |  | 1,328,754 |
Cost of shares repurchased | $ | 1,021 |  |  | $ | 830 |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | 174 |

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