Société Générale, Swiss Re, Northern Rock

European investment firms Société Générale and Swiss Reinsurance Co. suffered profit drops, and Northern Rock PLC swung to a first-half loss in financial statements issued today. Société Générale reported a 63% drop in second-quarter profits stemming in large part to credit-related losses at its corporate- and investment-banking division. Quarterly net income at the Paris-based bank slipped to $1 billion from $2.36 billion in the 2007 second quarter. Swiss Reinsurance Co. saw its first-half profit drop 53% to $538.5 million, from $978 million in the year-ago period after the company was took a $343 million write-down related to the global credit crisis. The Zurich, Switzerland-based insurance company also announced today that it was acquiring Barclays Life Assurance Co. Ltd., a unit of London-based Barclays PLC for $1.48 billion. Northern Rock posted a loss of $1.16 billion for the first half of the year after making a profit of $377.6 million in the year-ago period. The Newcastle upon Tyne, England-based mortgage bank was nationalized by the British government in February after borrowing $50.8 billion from the Bank of England.