NEW YORK (AP) - Bermuda-based Security Capital Assurance Ltd. (SCA) expects to report $1.5 billion in credit costs for the fourth quarter, raising the spectre that the bond insurer is all but finished as a viable company.

The beleaguered bond insurer postponed filing its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission until later this month, saying the company is still working on its financial statements.

SCA, which writes insurance policies promising to repay bondholders when bond issuers default, expects to incur a $1.5 billion charge. This charge reflects how much value its contracts pledging to repay debt that is now considered more risky have lost.

At the end of the third quarter, the company reported shareholders’ equity - or assets minus liabilities - of $1.59 billion. The charge will shrink the company’s equity to less than $100 million.

Banc of America Securities analyst Tamara Kravec wrote in a client report she expects SCA to go into “run-off,” or stop writing new business and just manage its existing book of policies.

SCA has been downgraded by all major ratings firms, and its stock has plunged more than 90 percent in the past six months.

By 2 p.m. Bermuda time today, SCA's stock had sunk 38 percent to 94 cents. This stock reached nearly $35 on the New York Stock Exchange in May.

Goldman Sachs analyst James Fotheringham on Sunday said SCA’s stock would be worthless with the company in run-off.

The company expects $645 million in costs for its policies covering collateralised-debt obligations, or bundles of bonds backed by assets like mortgages. SCA expects $44 million in costs for insuring home-equity mortgage debt.