Kamakura Reports Another Sharp Decline in Global Corporate Credit Quality in August

NEW YORK, NY, Sep 02 (MARKET WIRE) --
Kamakura Corporation reported Tuesday that its monthly index of troubled
public companies indicated still another steep decline in global
corporate credit quality in August. The Kamakura index has now shown
declines in credit quality in 12 of the last 13 months. Kamakura's index
revealed that troubled companies in August make up 14.8% of the global
public company universe, up significantly from 13.9% in July. The 14.8%
value for the Kamakura index is the highest since June 2003. At the
August level, the index shows that credit conditions are better than only
34.4% of the monthly periods since the start of the index in January
1990. The all-time high in the index was 28.0%, reached in September 2001,
and the all-time low was 5.4%, recorded in April and May 2006. Kamakura
defines a troubled company as a company whose short term default
probability is in excess of 1%. The index covers more than 20,000 public
companies in 30 countries using the fourth generation version of
Kamakura's advanced credit models.

"The three companies showing the largest rises in short term default
probabilities among rated companies during the month were Chesapeake
Corporation, Tronox Inc., and Fuji Electric Holdings Co. in Japan," said
Warren Sherman, Kamakura President and Chief Operating Officer. "In
August, the percentage of the global corporate universe with default
probabilities between 1% and 5% increased dramatically by 0.6% to 10.1%.
The percentage of companies with default probabilities between 5% and 10%
was up 0.1% to 2.3% of the universe in August. The percentage of the
universe with default probabilities between 10 and 20% was up sharply,
rising 0.3% to 1.5% of the universe. The percentage of companies with
default probabilities over 20% was up 0.1% to 1.0% of the total universe
in August."

Beginning in January 2006, Kamakura has moved to a global index covering
30 countries using the annualized one month default probability produced
by the best performing credit model of the Kamakura Risk Information
Services default and correlation service. The model used is the fourth
generation Jarrow-Chava reduced form default probability, a formula that
bases default predictions on a sophisticated combination of financial
ratios, stock price history, and macro-economic factors. The countries
currently covered by the index include Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Mexico, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.

About Kamakura Corporation

Founded in 1990, Honolulu-based Kamakura Corporation is a leading provider
of risk management information, processing and software. Kamakura has
been a provider of daily default probabilities and default correlations
for listed companies since November 2002. Kamakura announced the KRIS
Sovereign Default Probability Service on May 19, 2008. Kamakura launched
its collateralized debt obligation (CDO) pricing service KRIS-CDO in
April 2007. Kamakura is also the first company in the world to develop
and install a fully integrated enterprise risk management system that
analyzes credit risk, market risk, asset and liability management,
transfer pricing, and capital allocation. Kamakura has served more than
185 clients ranging in size from $3 billion in assets to $1.6 trillion in
assets. Kamakura's risk management products are currently used in 27
countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands,
France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Russia, Eastern Europe,
the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Japan, China, Korea and many other
countries in Asia.

Kamakura has world-wide distribution alliances with Fiserv/IPS-Sendero
(www.fiservips-sendero.com), Unisys (www.unisys.com), and Zylog Systems
(www.zylog.co.in) making Kamakura products available in almost every major
city around the globe.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=825667

For more information contact:

Warren Sherman
President
Kamakura Corporation
1-201-600-7542
Email Contact
www.kamakuraco.com
www.kris-online.com

Kamakura Corporation
2222 Kalakaua Avenue, 14th Floor, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Telephone: 1-808-791-9888
Facsimile: 1-808-791-9898
Information: Email Contact
Web site: www.kamakuraco.com

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

-0-