'Finance Cos under Lehman's debt worth $600 bn'

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Financial companies and investment funds have to shell out up to 600 billion dollars in claims for the insurance policies on Lehman Brothers' debts, which may worsen the ongoing credit crisis.

According to the ‘New York Times’, whether those claims can or will be paid, and the financial repercussions that could follow if they are not, will signify the biggest test for the vast, unregulated market in credit-default swaps.

The danger, the paper said, is the heavy claims on the Lehman default estimated at USD 400 billion to USD 600 billion and settling them could leave some companies with large, perhaps even crippling, losses and heighten the turmoil in the financial markets.

The magnitude of the exposure came into focus on Friday, when the price of Lehman's bonds was set via a closely watched auction on Wall Street. The debt was priced at a little above 8 cents on dollar, leaving companies and funds that insured these debts against default on the hook for the remainder, the Times said.

The price determined the amount that sellers of bond default protection would have to pay those who bought their protection, called counterparties.

The lower the bonds' price fell, the higher the payouts were going to be, the report said. But even now, the total amount coming due is unknown because the market for credit-default swaps is not regulated or tracked through any clearing house of data.

"The huge value of credit-default swaps on Lehman Brothers, and the low price obtained in this auction, mean there are billions of dollars in obligations," the paper quoting Eric R Dinallo, the New York State insurance superintendent, said.

"No one knows who owes this money, how much each counterparty owes, or whether any of these counterparties will now be in trouble themselves, with further potential problems for the financial markets."

Some of those on the hook, the Times said, will quietly settle their trades as they come due, mostly within the next two weeks, and keep doing business as usual.