Articles by Alexander Weber

ECB Warns of Financial Stability Risks From Global Elections, Geopolitics

Geopolitical tensions and a raft of elections around the world are heightening the risk that investors will be jolted by negative surprises and endanger financial stability, the European Central Bank warned. Markets have so far taken a relaxed view on …

EU Watchdogs Step Up Plans to Avert Market Meltdown from No-Deal Brexit

After months listening to the U.K. warn about the risks posed by a no-deal Brexit, European Union financial regulators are now stepping up plans to avert a market meltdown. Daniele Nouy, the European Central Bank’s head of supervision, set an …

Germany Echoes UK Concerns over Post-Brexit Risk to Insurance, Derivative Contracts

European Union and U.K. authorities must agree on a political solution to the threat Brexit poses to trillions of dollars in derivatives and insurance contracts, according to Germany’s top financial regulator. Felix Hufeld, the president of BaFin, said the industry …

EU Dismisses UK Concerns About Post-Brexit Continuity of Insurance Contracts

The Bank of England’s warning that Brexit threatens trillions of pounds of financial contracts is falling on deaf ears in Brussels. Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Union’s head of financial-services policy, dismissed an alert issued by BOE Governor Mark Carney, who …

U.K.-EU Brexit ‘Working Group’ Tasked with Fate of Insurance Policies

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England have been drafted in to study the threats that Brexit poses to financial services. Just don’t expect this “technical working group” to save the day. Brexit’s potential to disrupt trillions of …

Vienna Insurance 2015 Pretax Profit Down 67% on Romanian, Polish Writedowns

Vienna Insurance Group AG fell the most since 2009 after writedowns at its Romanian and Polish businesses added to earlier impairments of computer systems and helped push pretax profit for last year 67 percent lower. The shares fell as much …

Vienna Insurance CEO to Leave Over Strategic Differences; Stadler Is Successor

Vienna Insurance Group AG, Austria’s biggest insurer, said Chief Executive Officer Peter Hagen will leave the company over strategic differences later this month, more than two years before the end of his term. The company named Elisabeth Stadler as a …

Vienna Insurance Posts Lowest Q1 Profit Since ’09, Hit by Low Interest Rates

The financial repercussions of record-low interest rates in Europe were highlighted Wednesday as Vienna Insurance Group AG, eastern Europe’s biggest insurer, posted its worst first-quarter profit since the financial crisis. The insurer, based in Austria’s capital, said the effect of …

Vienna Insurance Misses 2014 Profit Estimates on $85 Million Heta Writedown

Vienna Insurance Group AG wrote down debt of Austrian “bad bank” Heta Asset Resolution AG by 80 million euros ($85 million), a larger amount than expected, causing the firm to miss estimates for profit last year. The insurer, based in …

Vienna Insurance Stays Out of Russia as Acquisition Targets Rare

Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG), Eastern Europe’s biggest insurer, said it won’t expand into Russia even as the number of acquisition targets in other parts of the region shrink. VIG, which is based in the Austrian capital and operates in …