US property and casualty insurer, Travelers, has announced plans to take a $1.3bn (£810m) charge to boost asbestos-related reserves.

US property and casualty insurer, Travelers, has announced plans to take a $1.3bn (£810m) charge to boost asbestos-related reserves.

The charge, to pay ballooning claims against corporate clients, will wipe out the $766m (£477m) it earned in the first nine months of last year.

The charge will also mean the third largest property and liability insurer in the US will record a loss of $27m (£16.8m) for 2002, the company said.

Travelers is the latest in a line of insurers, which have been studying the effect of the asbestos problem. Last year, Chubb Corporation set aside $625m (£389m) for asbestos reserves.

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