News/Insurance
Sector roundup
Sectors
Sector roundup
Sectors
S&P 500 pension plan funding to cost $57 billion over next two years
The cost of funding defined-benefit – company sponsored – pension plans at the top 500 listed companies in the United States will hit $24 billion this year and $33 billion in 2005, according to research by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).
Royal Bank of Canada reaches agreement over Enron case
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has reached a settlement agreement with Enron, the Enron creditors’ committee and Dutch firm Rabobank, resolving aspects of a share transaction known as ‘Cerberus’. The transaction also involved the use of total return…
US pension problems on a par with S&L crisis, says Hancock
The burgeoning deficit in defined benefit pension plans in the United States has reached such proportions that only the US government can bail out the sector, said Peter Hancock, former chief financial officer at JP Morgan and president of financial…
Enron will not centralise risk management
Failed energy trader Enron plans to package together the majority of its internationalassets into a company known as InternationalCo, the shares of which will be distributedto its creditors.
Credit watch
In this month’s analysis of energy firms’ credit quality via Riskmetrics’ CreditGrades tool, Williams and El Paso are among those with tighter spreads
RMS publishes daily weather derivatives data
Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a California-based provider of software for the management of natural hazard risks, has begun publishing daily weather market price data on the internet.
Swiss Re signs up for updated RMS weather trading system
Swiss Re Financial Products (SRFP) has licensed an updated weather risk trading system developed by Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the California-based technology and data firm.
BNL plans weather desk for Italy
Rome-based Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) is planning to set up a weather derivatives desk, which could add to the recent thrust of new players in the weather risk market. BNL hopes to establish the desk, specifically for the Italian market, by the…
BHP Billiton buys into weatherXchange
Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has bought a 7.5% stake in weatherXchange, an online weather derivatives data service, set up by the UK’s Meteorological Office and London-based Umbrella Brokers in June last year. BHP Billiton has an option to…