Swiss Re Affirms Position on WTC Insurance Dispute.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2003

For two years Swiss Re has performed, and continues to perform, in accordance with the terms of our insurance contract. According to that contract, World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein can recover up to $3.5 billion of insurance proceeds paid out over time as he rebuilds. Meanwhile, Silverstein's litigation efforts continue to delay resolution, causing significant erosion of the money available for rebuilding.

Silverstein is a private developer who wants to control Ground Zero. Toward that end, he has promised the public he is entitled to collect two policy limits from his property insurers. His promise rings false after the U.S. Court of Appeals categorically rejected his appeals and increased to five the number of insurers thus far conclusively liable for a maximum of one policy limit. The reality is that Silverstein's recovery will be capped at $3.5 billion paid over time as rebuilding expenses are incurred.

Silverstein continues to erode the insurance proceeds available so that he can pay lobbyists, lawyers and PR advisers who contribute nothing to rebuilding. The insurance companies have advanced $1.9 billion in insurance proceeds to date; $600 million has been allocated to Silverstein for WTC expenses. Notwithstanding Silverstein's promise to spend the insurance on rebuilding:

-- He has apparently spent $100 million in legal fees alone --

not for the amount of work his lawyers have actually done, but

an amount based on what his lawyers believe the case is worth;

-- He claims entitlement to collect "management fees" for the WTC

even though it no longer exists. Those fees may well exceed

his own personal investment of $14 million in the WTC lease;

-- He has refused to provide any accounting of how the insurance

proceeds paid thus far have been spent;

-- His mortgage lender, GMAC, recently filed suit against him to

protect itself from Silverstein misusing insurance proceeds;

-- All the while, Silverstein and his fellow investors are able

to deduct under section 467 of the Internal Revenue Code tens

of millions of dollars from their federal income taxes because

of how Silverstein structured his WTC lease with the Port

Authority; and

-- He has successfully lobbied Congress for insulation from any

potential liability to the September 11 victims' families.

Swiss Re hopes the proceeds we pay will be used for rebuilding rather than to fund causes that benefit Silverstein.

Every court of law to consider Silverstein's outrageous claim that he is entitled to a double insurance recovery has rejected it, most recently the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The time has come for Silverstein to end his campaign to claim through PR rhetoric and litigation more insurance than he purchased six weeks before the WTC was destroyed.

Swiss Re informed the Court on Oct. 9 that it stands ready, as it has for a year, to present its case as soon as the Court can accommodate a trial to conclude this matter. In fact, Swiss Re has been waiting since November 2002, when a trial was first scheduled, to present the facts before a jury of New Yorkers. But Silverstein chose instead to delay trial in order to pursue frivolous appeals.

About Swiss Re

Swiss Re is a leading reinsurer and the world's largest life and health reinsurer. The company is global, operating from 70 offices in 30 countries. Since its foundation in 1863, Swiss Re has been in the reinsurance business. Swiss Re has three business groups: Property & Casualty, Life & Health and Financial Services. Swiss Re offers a wide range of traditional reinsurance products and related services, which are complemented by insurance-based corporate finance solutions and supplementary services. Swiss Re is rated "AA" by Standard & Poor's, "Aa1" by Moody's and "A++" by A.M. Best.