It’s all bad news at Zurich, with the big Swiss financial services company announcing a $3.6 billion loss for the first half of 2002, compared with a profit of $1.5 billion for the corresponding period last year.

CEO James Schiro has promised a concentration on the core insurance assets – possibly signalling a move away from the holistic approach adopted by his forerunner, Rolf Huppi – and set his international operations a target of 12% return on equity. He also announced 4500 job cuts in Europe and announced a plan to raise $9.1 billion in capital.

The capital-raising, at least, has been praised by European analysts. But Standard & Poor’s was less kind, downgrading the company from an AA- to A+.

Zurich said that its largest losses stemmed from its corporate division and its non-life business. But business volume is up by 18% and Mr Schiro’s determination to concentrate on the core business of insurance has been generally welcomed.