TAIPEI -- Cathay Financial (2882.TW: Quote, Profile, Research), the parent of Taiwan's top insurer, said on Friday it has written off T$1.76 billion ($57 million) in collateralised debt obligations this year and expects the global subprime crisis to wind down soon.

"There should be no big surprises. Whatever needs to be written off (by major global financial institutions) has almost been done," C.K. Lee, chief strategic officer of Cathay, told reporters.

Before December, Cathay had written off another T$3.27 billion in CDO investments, Lee said, adding that the company had T$29 billion in subprime exposure last year.

Cathay's shares jumped 2.5 percent on Friday, slightly outperforming the broad market index's 2.25 percent gain.

Lee's comments on the subprime crisis followed the posting of better-than-forecast quarterly earnings by Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers earlier this week, which provided some reassurance to investors worried by the escalating credit crisis.

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