All the headlines from our Moodys Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oct 20 2011 // New accounting rules intended to align U.S. insurers’ varied approaches to accounting for deferred acquisition costs (DAC) will negatively affect insurers’ reported equity and some of the financial metrics that...
Oct 11 2011 // Until recently, the risk of inflation shocks has not ranked high on the agenda for U.S. property/casualty insurers, Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report, but aggressive monetary policy over the past few...
Sep 30 2011 // The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faces hurdles proving wrongdoing at credit-rating agencies, the agency’s enforcement chief said, pointing to the complexity of the cases and the industry’s strong...
Sep 28 2011 // The three major credit-rating agencies won the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that five Ohio pension funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars on risky mortgage debt because they relied on flawed ratings that made the...
Aug 30 2011 // The personal lines insurance sector maintains a stable outlook in the face of a highly competitive environment, 2011 catastrophe losses and sluggish economic conditions, according to a report from Moody’s Investors...
Aug 3 2011 // The man who holds in his hands the fate of U.S. credit, and with it potentially the global economy, favors small tie knots, sports a bushy mustache and smokes his fair share of cigarettes. Beyond that, he is a mystery,...
Jul 26 2011 // U.S. property/casualty insurers reported meaningful reserve redundancies in their 2010 earnings, Moody’s Investors Service said, marking the sixth straight year in which the industry has posted a benefit to...
Jul 22 2011 // Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed the A3 rating on the California Earthquake Authority’s (“CEA”) 6.169% fixed rate Series 2006-B revenue bonds (mature July 20, 2016) and changed the rating...
Jul 7 2011 // European politicians accused credit rating agencies on Wednesday of anti-European bias after Moody’s downgrade of Portugal’s debt to “junk” cast new doubt on EU efforts to rescue distressed euro...
Jul 7 2011 // On Tuesday, Lori Dickerson Fouché was named president and CEO of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., making her the company’s fourth CEO in recent years.Fouché succeeds Michael LaRocco, at the helm of one of the...
Jul 7 2011 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry, which has about 60 percent of its equity capital base or — $355 billion– in municipal bonds remains exposed to disruptions in this asset class, but the overall...
May 11 2011 // The three major U.S. credit rating agencies won the dismissal of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable as “underwriters” for helping banks structure securities transactions to achieve desired ratings.The 2nd...
Apr 14 2011 // Moody’s Corp. and Standard and Poor’s triggered the worst financial crisis in decades when they were forced to downgrade the inflated ratings they slapped on complex mortgage-backed securities, a U.S....
Dec 17 2010 // Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its A2 insurance financial strength rating for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. Moody’s also announced that its outlook for the Novato, Calif.-based insurer remains stable,...
Nov 22 2010 // U.S. property/casualty insurers are not likely to sustain substantial losses on municipal bonds, Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report.While muni bonds make up a high 27 percent of P/C insurers’...
Nov 15 2010 // The U.S. property/casualty personal lines insurance industry remains financially sound despite the weak economy and prolonged soft, though improving, pricing environment, Moody’s Investors Service says in its new...
Sep 6 2010 // It takes more than a bad economy and declining prices to weaken property/casualty insurance brokers.Moody’s Investors Service says in its new Industry Scorecard report that the insurance brokerage sector remains...
Aug 25 2010 // It takes more than a bad economy and declining prices to weaken property/casualty insurance brokers.Moody’s Investors Service says in its new Industry Scorecard report that the insurance brokerage sector remains...
Jul 19 2010 // Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s sovereign bond rating by one notch to Aa2 on Monday, citing weaker growth prospects and the high costs of rebuilding the country’s crisis-hit banking system.The rating agency,...
Jun 3 2010 // Reinsurers have bumped up prices for offshore energy-related insurance premiums by 50 percent following insurance industry losses of up to $3.5 billion from the BP plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Moody’s...