Latest S&P Headlines

All the headlines from our S&P Topic Page, ordered by recency.

S&P Japan Ratings Downgrade Hits Insurers

Jan 28 2011 // Yesterday Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it had lowered its sovereign rating on Japan to ‘AA-‘ from ‘AA’. The rating agency followed up that action by announcing that it...

S&P Publishes Updated Insurers’ Economic Capital Models

Jan 26 2011 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published its updated methodology for assessing insurers’ economic capital models on Jan. 24, 2011.S&P said the announced criteria “apply to all the life and...

S&P Could Downgrade Bond Insurers

Jan 24 2011 // Standard & Poor’s could downgrade bond insurers by a full category or more if new ratings standards for the sector are implemented and the companies do not raise more capital, the agency said Monday.Bond...

S&P Rates Catlin Re ‘A’; Sees ‘Key Benefits’ from Swiss-based Subsidiary

Dec 21 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘A’ counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to Switzerland-based Catlin Re Switzerland (CRCH), a new insurance entity created as a...

Rating Recaps: PrimeOne, Berkshire Hathaway (Notes), Safety National

Dec 17 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of ‘B+’ (Good) and issuer credit rating of “bbb-” to Michigan-based PrimeOne Insurance Company, both with stable outlooks. The ratings of...

S&P: U.S. Personal Lines Insurance Sector Outlook Revised To Stable

Dec 10 2010 // Rates for the personal lines insurance sector continue to see improvements, according to a new report.While pricing for the U.S. commercial lines sector continues to decline, though at a slower pace in the last two years,...

S&P Affirms ING’s Ratings; Removed from CreditWatch; Outlook Negative

Dec 8 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on various operating insurance subsidiaries of ING Groep N.V. (ING) and its...

DIMA Clarifies S&P Ratings Bulletin on Ireland Debt, Re/insurers

Nov 30 2010 // Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA), the representative body for the international re/insurance industry in Ireland, announced that it has “been in contact with rating agency Standard...

S&P Revises Outlook on XL Group to Stable; Affirms Ratings

Nov 24 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on XL Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries to stable from negative. S&P also affirmed its ‘A’ counterparty credit and financial strength...

S&P Lowers Fireman’s Fund Ratings to ‘A+’ from ‘AA-‘; Outlook Stable

Nov 24 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. and its affiliates (collectively referred to as...

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Rating Lowered To ‘A+,’ Outloook Stable

Nov 24 2010 // New York-based Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. and its affiliates (collectively...

Best, S&P Put RenRe’s U.S. Operations under Review/Negative

Nov 19 2010 // A.M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have both placed their credit and financial strength ratings on RenaissanceRe’s U.S. insurance companies under review with negative implications.The...

S&P Raises ProAssurance Rating One Notch to ‘BBB’; Outlook Stable

Nov 10 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its counterparty credit rating on ProAssurance Corp. to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘ with a stable outlook.S&P said the upgrade “reflects our...

S&P Sees No Effect on AXIS’ Ratings from Change in CFO’s

Nov 2 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that its ratings on Bermuda-based AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. (A-/Stable/–) and its operating subsidiaries are not affected by the announcement of the appointment...

S&P Lowers Ratings on American National’s Operating Companies

Oct 25 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on the core operating companies of the American National Insurance Co. group (ANICO) to ‘A+’ from...

Everest Re Management Shakeup: Taranto Stays; Jones Leaves

Oct 14 2010 // The Everest Re Group’s Board of Directors has announced that Joseph V. Taranto has accepted its request to reconsider his decision to retire and will remain as Chairman and CEO through December 31, 2012.At the same...

S&P Revises Outlook on Mutual of Omaha to ‘Negative’

Oct 13 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it has revised its outlook on Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. to negative from stable, and has assigned its ‘A’ rating to Mutual of Omaha’s issue of up to...

S&P: No Change in Horace Mann’s Ratings from Lower’s Exit

Oct 8 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its ratings on Horace Mann Educators Corp. (BBB/Stable/–) and its insurance operating subsidiaries are “unaffected by executive leadership changes within...

S&P Raises AFG’s Subsidiaries Ratings to ‘A+’; Outlook Stable

Oct 7 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on American Financial Group’s (AFG) core insurance subsidiaries to ‘A+’ from...

S&P Analysis Finds Insurance Could Spur Climate Change Investments

Oct 6 2010 // Climate change commentators have often spoken of capital markets as a source of funding, but many hurdles have to be overcome before institutional investors will allocate money to environmental projects in developing...