Swiss Re on Tuesday shocked investors with a bigger than expected writedown on a troubled credit deal that had already caused a SFr1.2bn ($1.1bn) loss last November. The world’s biggest reinsurer announced a further SFr819m writedown in the first quarter on the two credit default swaps on which it took the initial hit. The latest figure was more than three times higher than the SFr240m the group predicted when it reported its 2007 results in February. George Quinn, chief financial officer, warned Swiss Re faced a further SFr200m writedown on the transaction in April, taking total losses on the complex deal to more than SFr2.2bn. The latest hit pushed Q1 net profits down to SFr624m, well below analysts’ estimates, and 53% lower than Q1 last year.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 5:40 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with swiss re. Edit this entry.