Spiralling debt

Asian financial institutions hold exposures to US monoline insurers that are struggling to maintain their much-vaunted AAA credit ratings. Who is at risk, and what is the likely fallout from the latest bout of credit contagion? By Kathleen Kearney

ar-mar-08-scottwilson-gif

Financial institutions in Asia, like their peers elsewhere, have been hit by new credit shocks from Europe and the US in the aftermath of the subprime lending problems that emerged in mid-2007. The latest bombshell is that highly rated monoline insurers - which have insured $125 billion of structured credit products, according to rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P), as well as billions of dollars of US municipal bonds - face downgrades or even defaults (see box).

The latest developments are

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Risk.net? View our subscription options

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here