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Financial crisis: Making sense of the insensible
03 November 2008
No one is sure how bad the financial crisis will get. Russ Banham asks risk managers, brokers and rating agencies how the insurance market is likely to be affected.
Each day delivered news more stunning than the last. Forget Swiss Re's $1bn write down for sub-prime mortgage losses in the US. That's just so last year. This year, or at least the month of October, invited a hornet's nest of troubles for American International Group (AIG). The world's largest insurer required billions of dollars in two government-endorsed checks, plus faced down charges from furious members of Congress that it had hid from its auditors an array of risky practices as its losses mounted.
Other insurers also endured the harsh glare of the media spotlight, although nowhere near the intensity afforded AIG. Hartford Financial Services required a $2.5 billion shot in the arm from German insurer Allianz, while Principal Financial Group, Allstate and MetLife all posted double-digit share declines. As stock markets plunged steeply in value around the world, causing multiple trillions of dollars of wealth to evaporate in a...
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