The boss of British insurer Aviva has said there is a 'very, very low' risk that Greece, Spain or Portugal will default on government debt.
Chief executive Andrew Moss was speaking to reporters after Aviva issued a trading update.
The comments come after the EU and the International Monetary Fund gave their backing to a €750 billion rescue package for crisis-hit euro countries.
'It has been clear some European countries' budget deficits need to be resolved over time,' Moss said. 'Therefore, seeing action with the larger countries in the EU standing behind sovereign debt at this point is helpful, but the reality is that some of these countries would have to take action within their own economies to address their issues.'
In the trading update, Aviva said its total exposure to debt securities of the governments of Greece, Spain and Portugal stood at £900m (€1.16 billion), with Greek securities accounting for £150m.
Aviva also revealed a drop in sales of new life and pensions agreements in the first quarter, hit by lower contributions from North America.
Britain's second largest insurer said new sales fell 4.6% from a year earlier to £9.13 billion in the three months to the end of March.
