Fitch analyzed full-year 2007 GAAP financial results for publicly traded U.S. property/casualty insurers in an effort to quantify exposure to and credit quality of mortgage-backed securities with subprime and Alt-A collateral; exposure to and underlying credit quality of municipal bonds insured by financial guarantors; and the likely surge in claims under directors' and officers' (D&O) liability and errors and omissions (E&O) business lines due to subprime mortgage-related issues.

The discoveries found manageable impact on stockholders' equity from write-downs, realized and unrealized losses from residential mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and collateralized debt obligations.

While negative rating actions by Fitch in the U.S. property/casualty insurance sector due to subprime exposure have been very limited, Fitch does expect poor collateral performance in subprime-related investments to continue in 2008, and has growing concerns in the Alt-A sector. Further, it should be noted, highly illiquid, volatile market conditions have spread somewhat to other asset classes which could impact insurers' broader investment portfolio performance.

Fitch continues to monitor all developments in the subprime mortgage market, and also the property/casualty insurance industry's exposure to this market from both an asset and liability perspective. While Fitch believes the industry's concentration in high investment-grade securities will limit investment losses in this market, the agency is concerned about the potential for further deterioration in the market and its affect on other sectors of the credit market.

For more information and for a copy of the Special Report, 'Subprime Mortgage Exposure for Property/Casualty Insurers' please visit www.fitchratings.com under the following headers: Financial Institutions > Insurance > Special Reports.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) believes choosing and managing health care and insurance benefits should be a much easier task for the bank's associates and the company. The bank is taking steps to improve service, reduce paperwork and costs, and give associates more flexibility in the way they choose and pay for health care.

The bank will consolidate health and insurance benefits under one carrier; simplify its medical plans; give the majority of plan participants new, company-funded health care accounts to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses; and offer improved financial support for new parents, child care and ongoing education beginning in 2009.  http://www.bankofamerica.com  http://www.aetna.com

NEW YORK, April 9, 2008 — With Americans assessing their 2007 earnings before the April 15 tax filing deadline, it is a great time to put your finances in order with the Insurance Information Institute’s (I.I.I.) My Financial House – Personal Finance Software.

The secure product can be downloaded free-of-charge at www.MyFinancialHouse.org. It can help you organize and create a picture of your current financial situation; work more effectively with financial advisers; identify gaps or overlaps in their financial circumstances, and guide heirs and beneficiaries when filing a life insurance or other claims.

“My Financial House allows consumers to fully assess their current financial situation,” said Dr. Steven Weisbart, vice president and chief economist at the I.I.I. “Tax season is the one time of year when previous year’s earnings come into sharp focus and everyone can make decisions about individual retirement account (IRA) or college savings plan contributions. Too often, consumers underestimate the money they will need for a comfortable retirement, or to pay their children’s college tuition bills; others don’t purchase sufficient life insurance to cover a family’s day-to-day expenses if the household’s primary wage-earner were to die in the prime of his or her working life.”

People are occasionally unable to reach their financial goals because they do not really understand their financial situation, Dr. Weisbart added, noting that collecting financial data in this software program will enable users to get a picture of their current circumstances, and allow them to clearly set, and attain goals for where they want to be five or 10 years from today. Toward that end, My Financial House provides easy-to-use tools to create a financial inventory and effectively chart long-term financial plans.

Moreover, the software allows users to enter information about the current estimated value of their property, 401(k) and college savings plans, stock portfolio, and other assets such as life insurance policies. Users download the software onto their own computer; the I.I.I. does not store personal information. Instead, users are encouraged to save their data in a secure location and share it only with selected family members and financial advisors. It is advisable to save the information in a secure online storage facility such as Vault 24, or on a CD-ROM or flash drive for storage in a safe deposit box or other safe location.

Since the software was launched by I.I.I. in October 2006, it has been downloaded more than 15,000 times in the past 18-plus months. A number of I.I.I. member companies have also made My Financial House available via their publicly available Web sites.

To view a video about the My Financial House software, go to My Financial House Software. If you are a member of the news media and need a broadcast-quality videotape of this story, plus b-roll footage, please contact Susan Stolov at 301-728-1978 or SusanStolov@WashingtonIndependentProductions.com.

www.iii.org 

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Early estimates show the HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Average, an equal weighted benchmark of all single manager hedge funds and CTA/managed futures products in the HedgeFund.net database, was -1.35% in March 2008. The HedgeFund.net database consists of over 8,000 current hedge fund, fund of funds, and CTA products.

The majority of hedge fund strategies lost ground in March contributing to the first negative Q1 performance on record. Increased volatility surrounding the ultimate failure of investment banking giant Bear Stearns and the ensuing U.S. Treasury actions defined a difficult month. Despite the negative performance, Q1 2008 produced the largest quarterly outperformance by hedge funds over equity markets since 2001.

Unlike February when emerging markets and rising commodity prices supported hedge fund outperformance of equity markets, in March the major winners were short biased funds, volatility related options strategies and the relatively insulated asset based lending strategies. The HFN Short Biased Average was +2.24% in March and +11.04% YTD; the short sellers’ benchmark’s best Q1 since 2001. ABL funds returned an average of +0.92% in March and +2.30% in Q1 while the HFN Options Strategies Average was +2.49% in March and +3.04% in Q1. www.HedgeFund.net

Stock markets have dropped some 10 percent so far this year, hurting assets of millionaire clients and reducing the fees they pay their banks -- and income at wealth managers could slip by a similar amount or even more.

"The growth story is over," said Christopher Wheeler, equity analyst at Bear Stearns. "What we're talking about are 5 to 15 percent declines in pre-tax profit."

"It isn't disastrous, but it is ... a small downturn, having had a very strong period of above-average growth," Wheeler said.

That would be bad news for UBS (UBSN.VX:  -- reeling from $37 billion in credit writedowns, the world's heaviest -- and for Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: , as private banking makes up roughly a third of income at the two Swiss banks.

Wealth managers -- who invest rich people's money -- have witnessed soaring growth rates in recent years, benefiting from stable fee income regardless of performance, balancing wild swings in investment banking income.

But the MSCI global index has dropped 7 percent so far this year and the FTSEurofirst 300 index 13 percent, and large banks will feel the impact not just in their private banking units but also on a group level.

"Our 2008-2010 EPS estimates decline by 4 to 6 percent, while our price targets fall 4 to 5 percent for the Swiss private banks," Goldman Sachs said in a recent note, referring to declining client assets.

"For Credit Suisse and UBS this could undermine a key remaining pillar of support for the share price."

IN THE RED

This time round, all the pointers are in the red.

Millionaires are parking cash in low-margin money market funds and have reduced leverage as plummeting stock markets eat into their assets, meaning banks may see fee income drop at an even faster pace than the market.

Turnover of structured products in Switzerland is down 14 percent so far this year, March data from the country's SWX stock exchange showed, in a sign clients are pulling out of a range of banks' most lucrative and complex products.

Clients are also reducing their trading activities, banks say, depressing another source of income. And for Swiss banks there is an adverse currency effect, as the Swiss franc has strengthened thanks to its safe haven status.

UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, this month admitted subprime problems in its investment bank were spreading to its private banking operations, saying clients in Switzerland had withdrawn money in the first quarter of the year.

The bank still expects "positive" inflows in its private client business, but sounded a lot less confident than last year, when it collected a whopping 156.3 billion Swiss francs ($154.6 billion) in net new private client money.

"The question is not so much what this year will look like, but what is next year going to be?" an equity analyst at a large bank said, asking not to be named.

"In the last down-cycle (in 2001 and 2002) profits were down for two years on a row," the analyst said.

Substantial private banking units at Citigroup (C.N: , Merrill Lynch (MER.N:  and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE:  might also be hit, though their results lean much less heavily on private banking than at the Swiss banks.

OTHERS GAIN

But despite the gloom, some wealth managers may still gain. Eyes are on Julius Baer (BAER.VX: , which has invested heavily in Asia and other emerging markets, where it is benefiting from the emergence of new, prosperous middle classes.

Baer, like other small wealth managers in Switzerland, has said it is taking in clients from large rivals such as UBS, benefiting from the fact it has no exposure to investment banking and has escaped subprime damage.

Baer stock is trading at 16.2 times expected 2008 earnings, almost double the 8.8 times sector average multiple for the Dow Jones Stoxx banking index, although part of the premium may be due to takeover speculation.

Small banks are facing the same market pressure as their larger peers, but may benefit from the fact that rich clients are easily irked by negative headlines.

"We're having a Neutral rating (on Baer), but the market seems to reflect the thesis that they will see inflows from the larger banks," the analyst at a large bank said.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. today announced its intention to make a gift of $10,000,000 to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The donation helps the National September 11 Memorial & Museum successfully reach its $350 million fundraising goal for the construction of the Memorial & Museum.  www.cantor.com

The percentage of workers who are very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement decreased sharply, from 27 percent in 2007 to 18 percent in 2008, the biggest one-year drop in the 18-year history of the RCS. Retiree confidence in having a financially secure retirement also decreased, from 41 percent to 29 percent, a drop of 12 percentage points.

Decreases in confidence occurred across all age groups and income levels but was particularly acute among younger workers and those with lower income. The RCS was conducted by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), and full results are online at www.ebri.org/surveys/rcs/2008 

An Open Letter

April 10, 2008

Dear Senator Clinton and Senator Obama:

Healthcare has been central to each of your campaigns. As you work here in advance of the April 22nd primary, we wanted to alert you that healthcare is the number one opportunity we have to improve the lives of working Pennsylvanians right now. We, the undersigned, believe your campaigns could advance the cause of Pennsylvania's reforms, should you choose to make them an issue.

So, what do endorsements by legendary aging icons have to do with your future? Madison Avenue meets Wall Street and they want you. More importantly, they want your dollars.

Here is how it works, says Darras.

-- Boomers are turning 60, fast

-- Every year, add 4 million

-- Make retirement cool, put some heroes from our youth into the mix

-- Boomers everywhere jump in and buy, believing Long-Term Care is the answer

-- Carriers charge high premiums, promise an independent life when you are elderly

-- Big insurance sits back, collects our premiums, marveling at their marketing genius

"Cool can become cold fast when you are old and wrongfully denied your benefits," says Darras. "Choose your policy carefully. It is a decision that will definitely affect your golden years. Chances are, Mr. Cool won't be taking your call when you need your LTC the most."  

For more information see http://www.darrasnews.com or call 800-459-4577.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm with more than 750 lawyers worldwide, is continuing its expansion with the opening of a new office in Chicago. The firm’s 11th location follows the recent opening of offices in London and São Paulo and represents another milestone in Proskauer’s continued expansion in the world’s major financial markets.  http://www.proskauer.com

The fee schedule for EuroCCP is available at the company’s web site at http://www.euroccp.co.uk/docs/EuroCCP_Fee_Schedule_Mar2008.pdf. 

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has announced the consolidation of its General Insurance Claims operations and named Charles R. Schader, AIG Senior Vice President-Claims, to the newly created position of Chief Claims Officer for General Insurance. Mr. Schader will be responsible for both AIG Foreign General Insurance and AIG Property Casualty Group claims operations, and report to Nicholas C. Walsh, AIG Executive Vice President, Foreign General Insurance, and Kristian P. Moor, AIG Executive Vice President and President and CEO of AIG Property Casualty Group.  

Interest rates remain at historically-low levels, home prices continue to be attractively affordable, there is a large supply of homes to choose from, and despite the media-driven perception, there is plenty of financing available for qualified buyers. While these factors make it a great time to purchase a home for anyone, there are a handful of reasons that make now an opportunistic time particularly for first-time buyers. www.weichert.com

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chicago-area nonprofit organizations are invited to apply for a $100,000 grant in the sixth Chicago Benefits charitable awards program, created and funded by health and specialty benefits company Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). Applications for the grant are due May 20, 2008, and are available at  www.chicagobenefits.org.

(Editing by Kim Coghill)

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