Author: Farkas Laura

Reports have surfaced that for years, Richard Syron, CEO of embattled Freddie Mac, failed to heed internal warnings that could have protected the U.S. mortgage market giant from some of the catastrophic financial problems it now faces.    Syron received a memo in 2004 from Freddie Mac’s chief risk officer warning him that the firm… Continue reading Freddie Mac CEO: “We Couldn’t Afford to Say No to Anyone”

Amsterdam and Brussels, Belgium-based Fortis, the financial-services firm that ousted its chief executive officer last month, declined sharply in trading in the wake of its announcement that second-quarter profit dropped 49 percent on credit-related writedowns. Fortis posted net income of 830 million euros ($1.29 billion), down from 1.62 billion euros in the year-ago period. The… Continue reading Fortis Annouces Major 2Q Decline on Writedowns

Glen Allen, Virginia-based broker Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH) announced that although it posted higher revenues in the first six months of 2008, profits plunged by more than $30 million after an $18.4 million second-quarter impairment charge. For the six-month period, profits fell 64.9% to $16.7 million. HRH said the second-quarter expense—which is a… Continue reading Impairment Charge Proves Costly for Broker

Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of U.S.-funded health insurance, posted a 3.2 percent drop in profits for the secondquarter, attributing the decline to rising costs in its Medicare drug plans for senior citizens. Second-quarter net income dipped to $209.9 million, down from $216.9 million in the year-ago period. Still, the insurer’s profits were… Continue reading Health Insurer Posts Declines, Points to Rising Medicare Drug Costs

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (Ambac) today announced that it has settled one of its largest CDO exposures, AA Bespoke, in exchange for a final cash payment of $850 million to its sole counterparty. AA Bespoke is a $1.4 billion transaction that originally comprised AA rated CDO of ABS tranches, most of which have been downgraded… Continue reading Ambac Settles $1.4 Billion CDO Squared Transaction

Earnings are up at Connecticut-based Odyssey Re Holdings Corp., which posted a 34.5% profit, or $317.9 million, for the first half of the year. However, for the second quarter, Odyssey Re’s profits declined fell 54.7% to $66.9 million. The sharp decline is in light of a 62.3% drop in realized capital gains on investments for… Continue reading Odyssey Re On Earnings Seesaw

Embattled mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together own or guarantee nearly half of the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market, may report further downgrades to their forecasts for credit losses in their upcoming second-quarter results, starting as early as this week. Investors have already been warned by the government-sponsored mortgage companies that… Continue reading More Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Downgrades to Come?

China is said to have already won most of the medals in the financial Olympics by managing to avoid the toxic debt investments that have catastrophically drained banks in the U.S. and Europe of late. Among the world’s largest financial companies, Chinese banks hold three of the top six spots based on market value, even… Continue reading China Gets the Gold – Literally

In a statement made prior to news of a bomb blast today in the region of Xingjiang which killed 16 police officers, the director of risk management for Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee, Zhou Wangcheng, called the chances of a terrorist attack occurring at the Olympics “very small.” According to Zhou, organizers undertook risk assessment with… Continue reading Upcoming Olympics: Insurance Plan in Place Against “Very Small” Risk of Terrorist Attack

In the month of July, the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a four-year high as companies cut workers for a seventh-straight month, underscoring that the economy remains vulnerable to a recession in the second half of the year. However, the employment decline was less than Wall Street economists had feared, suggesting that any downturn is… Continue reading Unemployment Rate at Four-Year High, Yet Job Cuts Fewer than Expected