Reinsurance group Swiss Re's first quarter profit falls

ZURICH (AFP) — Swiss Re, the world's largest reinsurance group, on Tuesday said its first quarter profits were halved, blaming recent market turmoil and losses on its structured credit default swap (CDS) portfolio.

The group also reported fresh writedowns of 819 million Swiss francs, sending its shares sharply lower.

Swiss Re's net profit for the first quarter was 624 million Swiss francs (383 million euros, 594 million dollars), down 53 percent on last year.

"The reduction (in profit) was attributable to the continuing turmoil in the financial markets and the resulting additional mark-to-market loss of 819 million Swiss francs on the structured credit default swaps," it said.

Credit default swaps are instruments meant to cover possible losses for banks and bondholders if borrowers fail to repay their debts.

Swiss Re, which acts as an insurer of insurance companies, was hit in the fallout from the US ...