NZ state insurer to sell assets

New Zealand’s state insurer the Earthquake Commission is to sell stocks and bonds to raise cash for claims from the Christchurch earthquake, Bloomberg reports.

It expects to face as many as 100,000 claims with a potential cost of as much as NZ$2bn ($1.5bn) finance minister Bill English said. The commission’s Natural Disaster Fund had NZ$6bn in bonds, stocks and bank bills at the start of September, he said.

“The government has issued a new ministerial direction to enable the commission to sell down assets in sufficiently large amounts to produce cash, and to give it the ability to hold more cash than it used to so that it can pay out claims promptly,” English said.

After the Commission has paid NZ$1.5bn, reinsurance kicks in.