CONVERIUM HAPPY WITH RENEWALS, BUT STILL AWAITS UPGRADE

Swiss reinsurer Converium has termed itself “satisfied” with its renewal levels at the end of the year, despite the absence of an upgrade from rating agencies. Speaking to Bloomberg last week, Converium executive Beat Werder said that the reinsurer no longer expected an upgrade in 2006, but that the reinsurer had nevertheless “seen good figures”. Converium had been hoping that Standard & Poor’s would reinstate a single A rating at Converium subsequent to the reinsurer’s sale of its North American operations to Berkshire Hathaway and a clearing of its North American books. Meanwhile, a federal judge in New York has dismissed some securities-fraud claims filed by shareholders against Zurich Financial Services and underwriters UBS and Merrill Lynch over the spin-off of Converium. Shareholders had alleged that Zurich and other defendants had manipulated Converium's books to disguise financial problems following the 2001 spin-off. Financial problems were said to have been exposed when Converium added hundred of millions of dollars in reserves for its US casualty operations in 2004 . With the dismissal of some claims, US district judge Denise Cote said that it was premature to dismiss other claims against Converium, former CEO Dirk Lohmann and former CFO Martin Kauer.