CNA Surety Announces $15 Million Loss on Claim

CNA Surety Corp. announced today that it recently received a claim notification on a $19.5 million insurance program bond. This commercial surety bond supports the credit obligations of a principal to a third party insurance company with respect to various property and liability insurance services.

The principal has been operating under a voluntary petition of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Based upon its evaluation of the claim notification and currently available information, CNA Surety estimates net incurred losses of approximately $15 million pre-tax and $9.8 million after tax, or 23 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2003 related to this claim.

The accuracy of these estimates, as well as the amount and timing of any actual loss payments, may be affected by a number of contingencies, including the actions of the principal and other parties to the underlying contracts, possible judicial rulings and any amounts that CNA Surety may recover under indemnity agreements associated with the surety bond.