. New EU rules to boost insurers' financial strength will spur more issues of securities tied to natural disasters and peak mortality risks as the sector moves onto even safer footing, Swiss Re said. The world's second-biggest reinsurer and other industry experts expect the "Solvency II" capital regulations — set to take effect in 2013
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Britain's top shares rose by midday on Thursday, with commodity stock weakness outpaced by gains in defensives, led by drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline after U.S. authorities recommended approval of its Potiga epilepsy drug. By 1113 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 20.55 points or 0.4% at 5,265.76, having hit its lowest close in three weeks on Wednesday
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Insurer Prudential said its failed bid for AIG's Asian unit will cost less than first expected, and confirmed that the bungled takeover attempt has killed its appetite for big M&A deals. The bid for Hong Kong-based AIA will cost 377 mln pounds, down from an initial estimate of 450 mln pounds, thanks to reduced fee
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The chief executive of De La Rue , the world's largest non-governmental printer of bank notes, stepped down after the firm last month warned sales would be hit by quality problems at one of its paper factories. De La Rue's shares dropped more than 13% to 698 pence at 0949 GMT, after it said James
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The cost of protecting Greek government debt against default rose on Thursday after data showed Greece's economy shrank by a bigger-than-expected 1.5% in the second quarter. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt widened to 795 basis points, up 32 bps on the day and compared with around 785 bps before the data,
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The European Commission called Slovakia's decision not to participate in a euro zone bailout of Greece "unusual" on Thursday, but said it would not speculate on any repercussions for the country at this stage. Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said there were no indications any other members of the euro zone would follow Slovakia's move, which
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. China's richest citizens are even wealthier than the statistics suggest, and may hold as much as 9.3 trln yuan ($1.4 trln) of hidden assets, according to a Credit Suisse-sponsored study by a top economic think-tank. Official statistics for 2008 failed to capture income equivalent to about 30% of China's gross domestic product, the "Analysing
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Japan policymakers fired off a volley of comments on Thursday to curb yen strength and the central bank checked rates with banks as officials stepped up efforts to prevent the currency from harming a fragile economic recovery. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said, however, Group of Seven countries have no plans to hold a conference call
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The Indian government put off a decision on Thursday on whether to ban BlackBerry services over national security fears in the world's fasted growing telecoms market. The home secretary, the top civil servant over internal security, held talks with intelligence officials and state-run telecom operators BSNL and MTNL about how the government could access encryption
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American International Group Inc said on Wednesday it will sell most of its consumer finance unit to Fortress Investment Group and take a $1.9 bln pre-tax loss due to the sale. AIG, majority owned by the U.S. government, is selling 80% of American General Finance to Fortress managed funds and affiliates as it restructures after
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