This highlights that risks are increasing everywhere

Protests against Prime Minister Geir Haarde's government andthe central bank have become a regular fixture in theonce-tranquil streets of the capital ever since the collapse ofthe island's main commercial banks last year. A police official estimated more than a thousand protestershad gathered around parliament, but said he had no informationabout arrests (Editing by Michael Roddy). LONDON (Reuters) - Credit insurers are looking closer than ever at bank support when covering company risk, and some credit experts see them as indicators of when businesses will likely land in financial trouble.Credit insurers cover the risk that a company is unable to pay its suppliers. When they pull out, suppliers are likely to demand cash on delivery, creating an extra liquidity need that can make life harder for companies already struggling."It's all about the risk of insolvency, that is the risk we cover and the main feature at the moment," said Fabrice Desnos, chief executive of Euler Hermes UK (ELER.PA)."In the current credit environment, the perception of bank support for a particular company is key for our decisions, and more so than it used to be," he said.British retailer Woolworths WLW.L entered administration just three to four months after its credit insurance was pulled.U.S. equity firm Blackstone (BX.N), which offers restructuring services to companies in financial distress, looks out for talk on any changes in supplier insurance among its contacts, to help spot potential clients."Supplier insurance is important because the continuation of that insurance provides stability to a company's short-term cash flow forecasts," said Simon Davies, a managing director in Blackstone's corporate advisory unit.The European credit insurance industry dominated by Atradius GCOXF.UL, Coface and Euler Hermes (ELER.PA) provides mostly small- to medium-sized businesses with short-term cover on the payments they are due to receive.NO RETAIL COVERAtradius cut back its provision of credit insurance for companies that supply the retail sector in November, including some suppliers to struggling British electrical goods retailer DSG International (DSGI.L)."As an industry, we're seeing a massive increase in the number of claims and overdue debts reported to us," said Ian Hollyhomes, a London-based director at Coface."We need to be able to identify companies that are likely to fail or have a greater default probability in the short term."When a policy is canceled, or the amount on sales covered reduced, suppliers that had allowed periods of 45 or 60 days to receive payment may fear a company could run out of cash."Forty-five days of payables for quite a lot of businesses could be the difference between having some money and none," said Blackstone's Davies.Credit insurers say their work helps to limit the number of insolvencies among their own clients who are vulnerable to larger businesses that may fail to make payments.They use their own financial analysis, confidential information about banking relationships, as well as prices in credit derivative markets to help their decision making.A potential breach of covenants is likely to be seen very negatively, said Desnos, though he that this event alone is not enough to trigger a cancellation.It also closely watches those companies that trade upfront in the credit derivatives market meaning that sellers of protection against default deem the risk so high that they demand a big downpayment.Europe's main derivatives indexes list 22 companies trading upfront, including German car parts maker ATU ATUUN.UL, Dutch semiconductor company NXP, and telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA)."These are all names of large companies, which will be familiar to many and in very different sectors," Desnos said."This highlights that risks are increasing everywhere."(Reporting by Natalie Harrison; Editing by Andrew Macdonald). By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Kosovo will induct its own army on Wednesday, angering Serbs who do not recognise the state that declared independence from Belgrade less than a year ago.

"At a time when Kosovo remains a tinder-box, when no one trusts Kosovo's so-called state bodies, the creation of such a force can only worsen the situation," Goran Bogdanovic, Serbia's Minister for Kosovo, told Serbia's B92 radio station. Kosovo declared independence in February, incurring the wrath of neighbouring Serbia which still considers the majority-Albanian territory in the Balkans part of Serbia. Many commanders in the new Kosovo Security Force are veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought Serb forces trying to crush the separatist insurgency in Kosovo in 1998-99. Belgrade, and the Serb minority of about 120,000 among two million Albanians in Kosovo, see the new force as the continuation of that fight. The multiethnic force will have 2,500 personnel and 800 reservists, but it will be some years before it will be fully operational. The KSF will be lightly armed and initially will take on tasks such as crisis response, explosive ordinance disposal and civil protection. "The Kosovo Security Force (KSF) will be a multiethnic force and will serve the country and all of its people," Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told a news conference on Tuesday.

The new force will replace the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), a 3,500-strong civil protection force that was also composed mainly of former KLA guerrillas. Serb leaders in Kosovo and Serbia have asked Kosovo Serbs not to join the force. Countries that have recognized Kosovo have pledged to help the new force, which will be trained and overseen by 15,000 NATO peacekeepers. NATO has said the force will not be an army, nor will it be expected to take on military tasks. Xhavit Sadrijaj is a lieutenant-colonel who served in the Yugoslav Army, later fought for the KLA against Serb forces and after the war was in the Kosovo Protection Corps. "Even when we were trained and served in another (Yugoslav) army, our bodies and souls were allied with our country. APPLETON, Wis.(Business Wire)iSectors flagship model, the Post-MPT Growth Allocation, reported performanceresults as follows: Period endingiSectorsDecember 31.