XL Capital Ltd

Once it had stripped out the financial guarantee operations, making the case for the profitability of its core p&c insurance and reinsurance businesses was not a particularly difficult task for XL Capital

Two thousand and seven, generally a year of mixed fortunes for the insurance and reinsurance sector, was particularly trying for Bermudian group XL Capital Ltd, which writes a mix of primary insurance and reinsurance business, including life reinsurance. The group, which posted a net profit of $1.7bn in 2006, was pretty much set to announce another record net profit of just over $2.0bn in 2007 when it was hit in the fourth quarter by the rapidly escalating US financial crisis, mainly through its financial guarantee insurance and reinsurance business, Security Capital Assurance (SCA).