The use of barley as the ultimate foundation stone of measurement appears to be another universal element (alongside the forearm, the foot and the breadth of a finger), so that, for instance, you will find it underwriting the system of measurements used by the Vikings.
The children sang, the orchestra played and the Red Cross was delighted, underwriting Terezín with its international authority and a clean bill of health.
Faced with criticism at home for underwriting a bailout for Greece and with criticism from abroad for doing so too late, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, is pushing for a treaty that will create a pan-European bailout fund and at the same time impose stricter sanctions on member states that use the money.
But it would land a big burden on the taxpayers of Manchester, as the council is underwriting the venture.
GE Capital is rated triple-A, too, but only because GE Industrial supports it for instance, by underwriting some of its debts.According to GE's accounts, shareholders have about two-thirds of their money invested in GE Industrial and one-third in GE Capital.
As with the "monoline" bond insurers, such as MBIA and Ambac, its woes stem from straying from its core business in AIG's case, underwriting property, casualty and life policies into the alphabet soup of structured finance.
Two more banks are still haggling with regulators.The investment banks will also adopt new operating procedures intended to separate the function of research (recommending shares) from investment banking (underwriting them).
Broadly, the fees earned by underwriting new equity issues and advising companies on mergers and acquisitions subsidise share sales and trading.
European insurers are themselves at fault for their biggest failings: mispricing of underwriting risks and the poor performance of their investments (see article).
