European governments struggled on Monday to shelter banks and bank depositors from a global financial crisis that is eroding confidence, endangering the economy and challenging their ability to respond as one. Germany promised blanket deposit protection for bank savers, prompting …
French bank BNP Paribas agreed to scoop up assets in Belgium and Luxembourg of banking and insurance group Fortis for €14.5 billion ($19.66 billion) to become the Euro zone’s biggest deposit bank. The move followed a weekend of frantic talks …
Fortis, the Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance giant, faced a takeover or break-up as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet held emergency talks with Dutch and Belgian lawmakers to restore faith in the Belgian-Dutch financial group. Trichet, who as ECB [European …
U.S. lawmakers rejected a $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry in a shock vote that sent global markets sliding as the world credit crisis claimed more banks. By a vote of 228-to-205 the House rejected a compromise plan …
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating and insurer financial strength rating on AIG General Insurance (Taiwan) Co. Ltd. (AIG Taiwan), to ‘A’ from ‘A+’. S&P also placed the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. …
A.M. Best Co. has withdrawn the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa” of Swiss Re Life & Health Limited and Swiss Reinsurance Company UK Limited (both UK-based). Best also withdrew the FSR …
UK Flood Model Risk Management Solutions has released a major new upgrade to its U.K. Inland Flood Model. “The upgraded model will enable all segments of the insurance industry to drill down to a finer level of detail than ever …
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its insurer financial strength and counterparty credit ratings on holding company QBE Insurance Group Ltd. (currently rated ‘A-‘) and QBE’s core operating entities (all rated A+). The rating outlooks on the holding company …
Marsh has released key findings from its Financial Institutions – Captive Benchmarking Analysis report, to be published in September. The bulletin described the study as the “most in-depth review of the use of captive insurance companies by global financial institutions.” …
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its financial strength rating on Channel Reinsurance Ltd. to ‘AA’ from ‘AAA’, removed the rating from CreditWatch with negative implications and assigned a negative outlook. “The downgrade reflects the fact that, in our …
