November 9, 2012
Interest rates, volatile currency markets and changing regulations are the top three things keeping risk managers from their sleep. Those are the conclusions summarized in an article on the Lloyd’s web site that revues the findings of the “The Risk …
September 28, 2012
Britain’s top financial watchdog delivered a 10-point plan to fix Libor, but stopped short of scrapping the benchmark interest rate in a much-awaited reform of a system plagued by scandal. “The system is broken and needs a complete overhaul,” said …
September 14, 2012
“The European debt crisis is affecting the global economy, definitely,” said Kurt Karl, Swiss Re’s chief economist in an interview at the recent Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo. He did indicate that it’s affecting the U.S. a bit less, as …
September 12, 2012
Swiss Re’s sigma report analyzing the effect on the insurance industry of the continuing low interest rates doesn’t paint a pretty picture. They have been at historic lows for several years. For instance the nominal yield on a 10-year U.S. …
September 10, 2012
For once there’s no natural catastrophe hanging over the annual Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo (the 56th edition). Tropical storm Leslie missed Bermuda and Hurricane Michael is safely out in the Atlantic. But that doesn’t mean there are few concerns …
August 6, 2012
Europe’s biggest insurer, Allianz SE, is worried about the role central banks may have played in an interest rate rigging scandal that has enveloped some leading international lenders, the insurer’s chief financial officer said on Friday. “We do not find …
August 1, 2012
The scope of the investigations that are unfolding in the wake of the charges against Barclay’s Bank that it rigged the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) have taken on the proportions of a major catastrophe. “17 of the 24 largest …
July 26, 2012
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to do whatever was necessary to protect the euro zone from collapse, sending a strong signal that inflated Spanish and Italian borrowing costs were in his sights. Fears about the euro …
July 5, 2012
All of Europe’s biggest economies are in recession or heading there and there is little sign things will improve soon, surveys showed on Wednesday, backing a growing view that the region’s major central banks are poised to ease policy this …
June 15, 2012
Authorities in the world’s major economies are preparing for a possible market storm or public panic after cliffhanger Greek elections this weekend, officials said on Thursday, should radical leftists win and cast doubt on the nation’s future in the euro …