Insurers set to launch reputational risk product - papers

Insurers are planning to introduce a new product to help companies limit the financial fall-out when their brands or high-profile spokesmen such as Tiger Woods suffer reputational damage, reports the Financial Times.

DeWitt Stern, a 110-year-old US insurance broker, has already received expressions of interest from London underwriters about backing a reputational risk product it aims to launch early in 2010. Read more

Abu Dhabi's biggest sovereign wealth fund has accused Citigroup of tricking it into agreeing to pay $7.5bn ((£4.6 bn) for overpriced stock, reports The Times.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) wrote to Citigroup on Tuesday to demand more than $4bn in damages over a bailout deal struck between the two in November 2007.

Citigroup, which is raising $17bn from investors to repay its US taxpayer bailout, disclosed the demand on Tuesday night. Read more

The Independent runs an article detailing how the Serious Fraud Office launched a formal investigation yesterday into the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing,
The SFO said it wanted to identify "whether misrepresentations or false representations were communicated by the bank in the push to attract UK investors" into the high-yield Kaupthing Edge deposit account, the report says. Read more

British retail sales suffered an unexpected fall in November, reports The Times, dropping at the fastest rate since May.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that retail sales volumes fell by 0.3% month-on-month in November, thwarting forecasts of a 0.4%.
Year-on-year sales were up 3.1% in November, a slow-down from October's 3.7% rise.
The ONS blamed the decline on falling trade at department stores and poor demand for clothing. Read more