European insurers have less than $360m exposed to failed Italian milk group Parmalat, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said.

The company described the marketwide exposure as "nominal".

The figure included European insurers' US subsidiaries.

S&P credit analyst Hans Wright said: "Exposure to Parmalat is not expected to adversely affect the financial strength of any European insurer, and represents less than 0.1% of assets marketwide."

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