January 2006
Credit derivatives: Fitch says AIG dominates protection
by Alex Chambers & Mark Brown
Fitch’s latest annual survey of the leading players in the credit derivatives market revealed a 40% increase in the amount of credit protection bought by banks in 2004. AIG Financial Products drove an increase in net protection selling by insurance companies.
Banks were net buyers of $427 billion of credit protection. Insurers and financial guarantors sold $556 billion of protection. The global insurance industry sold $319 billion net, with AIG contributing $269 billion, just over 84%, of that total.
“Being late to the table has worked in AIG’s favour,” says Ian Linnell, managing director, Fitch Ratings. “Lots of insurers moved in just at the wrong time...
