Primus looks to fill monoline void with credit risk venture

New York-based credit derivatives product company Primus Guaranty is planning a new credit protection venture to write credit default swaps on corporate and sovereign debt and some triple-A rated structured credit.

Credit derivatives product companies were originally set up to take credit risk from bank balance sheets. But, as with monoline insurers, many have closed their doors amid ratings downgrades and questions over the use of such vehicles to lay off credit exposures.

Primus has also