Oct 2008 Financial News

Sagicor expects to be barely touched by world crisis

Oct 23, 2008

SAGICOR FINANCIAL CORPORATION says its exposure to the international financial crisis was not significant and the group did not expect to incur "material loss" as a result.

In a statement issued today from its Barbados headquarters, the international financial company said that its exposure to "financially distressed companies" such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual was "limited and any potential loss will be immaterial to the performance" of the Sagicor Group. In addition, the London Stock Exchange-listed company with operations throughout the Caribbean and United States, said any potential loss would be "insignificant" in relation to its investment portfolio and total assets.

Sagicor, which had assets as of December 31, 2007 of $3.64 billion, said the company had already accounted for a loss of US$2.4 million and had estimated potential for further loss of US$3.3 million. This, the company said represented 0.2 per cent of Sagicor's investment and 0.14 per cent of its total assets. "The impact on the Sagicor Group will therefore be negligible," the company stated.

Meanwhile, Sagicor stressed that neither its segregated funds nor its mutual funds had any exposure to the financial crisis. It said also the value of these funds would "in no way be impacted by these events". Describing the crisis sweeping the United States and international financial markets as "perhaps the worst financial crisis in history", Sagicor said few financial institutions operating in the international capital markets will escape these events unscathed.


Source:
The Nation News
Thursday October 23, 2008
http://www.nationnews.com/story/309146062132336.php