A renewed writedown of debt owed by financially ailing Greece
must be avoided or capital markets will lose all trust in
governments' capability to resolve the persistent sovereign debt
crisis in the euro zone, said Nikolaus von Bomhard, chief executive
of Munich Re AG (MUV2.XE), the world's largest reinsurer in terms
of premium revenue.
"A new haircut must not happen in the present situation, or
trust will be lost completely," Mr. Bomhard is quoted as saying in
an interview with weekly newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine
Sonntagszeitung.
Mr. Bomhard is also quoted as saying that exit from the euro
zone by Greece bears "unforeseeable" consequences and must be
avoided.
"We have absolutely no experience with failure of a euro
country, its departure from the euro zone let alone from the
European Union," Mr. Bomhard told the newspaper.
He added that Munich Re has prepared itself for the possibility
of a crash of the single European currency.
"We don't want the euro to fall apart. We also don't think this
is predominantly probable. But we are preparing for these worst
cases, because it is our duty as entrepreneurs and our nature as
wary insurers," Mr. Bomhard is quoted as saying.
Newspaper website: www.faz.net
-Write to the Frankfurt Bureau at
djnews.frankfurt@dowjones.com