Reinsurance disaster, the stock market concerned about Swiss Re

The first weeks of the year 2009 have turned out to be disastrous for Swiss Re. Indeed, the Swiss reinsurer has lost more than 46% of its stock market value in a single month, thus reporting its biggest fall since November 1990. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the group's losses are poised to exceed 1 billion CHF (947 million USD).

According to some analysts, Swiss Re needs a recapitalization worth 5 billion CHF (3.78 billion USD) to maintain its AA rating. Upon announcement of the last results on February 4, 2009, Standard & Poor's has put Swiss Re under surveillance with negative outlook.