Reinsurer Scor says no major exposure to monoliners

PARIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - French reinsurer Scor (SCOR.PA) said on Monday it had no material exposure to current problems surrounding monoliner insurers, which have been hit by the global credit crunch.

Scor said in a statement that out of a total investment portfolio of 19 billion euros, it had 83 million euros ($121.7 million) worth of securities whose rating was "enhanced" by monoliner insurers.

"The in-depth study comes to the conclusion that the U.S. monoliner crisis will have no effect on the financial strength of Scor," it said in a statement.

A monoline insurer is a company that insures against the risk of a bond or another security defaulting. Leading American insurers MBIA (MBI.N) and Ambac (ABK.N) have both been hit by the subprime crisis, leading to fears that their problems could affect other financial companies.

Last year, Scor bought Swiss reinsurer Converium in a deal which Scor said made it the world's fifth largest reinsurer.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)