Free Republic

U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters. CRISIS IN CREDIT The request to keep the details secret were made by the New York Federal Reserve -- a regulator that helped orchestrate the bailout -- and by the giant insurer itself, according to the emails. The emails from early last year reveal that officials at the New York Fed were only comfortable with AIG submitting a critical bailout-related document...

If “cash is king,” then Middle East coffers are irresistibly enticing. During a recent tour of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt applauded the “growing role” of Arab banks in the U.S. economy. Treasury is seeking buyers for its newly acquired bailout assets because more than $1 trillion in cash is urgently needed to rescue the largest U.S. banks. However, cash from the Arabian Gulf comes with a vital string attached: Islamic banking, erroneously viewed as an ancient practice. In fact, Islamic banking is a newly invented institution: “Neither classical nor medieval Islamic civilization featured...

In "Uncle Shariah" in the Washington Times, December 16, Frank Gaffney details why AIG's nationalization is so worrisome: The insurance giant AIG has lately become the poster child for corporate risk-taking, mismanagement and greed. Its unimaginably large losses, rooted in insurance it extended to financial companies engaged in subprime mortgage-backed transactions, have destroyed both AIG's corporate reputation and balance sheet. Indeed, but for the fact that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - who during his days running Goldman Sachs had extensive ties to AIG - deemed the insurance firm "too large to fail," the company would surely have gone under by...

Vol XXVIII NO. 345 Tuesday 28 February 2006 Health insurance scheme launched DUBAI: Salama Islamic Arab Insurance Company has launched Health Takaful in the UAE, the start of a Dh165 million expansion of its insurance products base in the emirates that will help drive future profitability. The launch follows the signing of a landmark agreement with the MedNet Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies. MedNet will process all SALAMA's Health Takaful claims. "This is the beginning of an aggressive expansion into the personal insurance market by Salama," said Dr Saleh Malaikah, vice-chairman...