Credit insurance provider Euler Hermes SA (ELE.FR) has reduced the volume of insurance it sells for the protection of companies from defaults of their Greek and Spanish customers in the wake of the euro-zone crisis, Management Board Chairman Wilfried Verstraete said, according to a report published Friday in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

French Euler Hermes, in which Germany's Allianz SE (ALV.XE) has a majority stake, has cut the volume of insurance for deliveries to Greek and Spanish companies by half and 20%, respectively, according to the German newspaper.

Euler Hermes is "relatively pessimistic for Spain and Portugal" and "relatively optimistic for Italy," Verstraete is quoted as saying. The Spanish economy is much less diversified than the Italian and the indebtedness of Spain's private households is very high whereas it is quite low in Italy, he noted.

Newspaper website: http://www.faz.net

-Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 49-69-29725-500.