Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P Revises Outlook on Allied World to Positive; Affirms Current Ratings

Jun 25 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings Ltd. (AWH) and its operating subsidiaries to positive from stable. S&P also affirmed all of its ratings on...

S&P Revises Marsh Mac Outlook to Negative; Ratings Affirmed

Jun 15 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) to negative from stable. S&P has also affirmed its ‘BBB-‘ long-term and ‘A-3’ short-term...

S&P Warns P/C Insurers on Reserving Practices

Jun 3 2010 // Property/casualty (P/C) insurers have turned to releasing significant amounts of reserves in the past couple of years, even as the underlying business conditions have deteriorated, but may have to slow this practice,...

S&P Lowers State Auto Group’s Ratings to ‘A-‘; Outlook Stable

Jun 1 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on the operating insurance companies of State Auto Group to ‘A-‘ from ‘A’. S&P...

Ratings Recap: Hatherley, Attorneys Liability

May 26 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating to ‘A’ (Excellent) from ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating to “a” from “a-” of Bermuda-based Hatherley...

S&P Affirms Hannover Re’s ‘AA-‘ Ratings; Outlook Revised to ‘Stable’

May 24 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on German reinsurer Hannover Rueckversicherung AG (Hannover Re) and on various operating entities to stable from negative. S&P also affirmed the...

S&P Expects Re/Insurance Losses from Gulf Oil Spill to Be Minimal

May 24 2010 // Based on what are so far only preliminary estimates, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it expects insured losses from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico “to be significantly less and be spread among...

Ratings Recap: Ageas (ex-Fortis), Island Heritage, New Century

May 19 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘A-‘ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on AG Insurance and the operating entities of Millenniumbcp-Fortis Grupo...

S&P Lowers Mercury’s Ratings

May 17 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-‘.S&P also lowered...

S&P Affirms Alterra’s Ratings Following Max Cap, Harbor Point Merger

May 17 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its ‘BBB’ counterparty credit rating on Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance holding company Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd., which was...

Court Says CalPERS May Pursue Lawsuit Against Rating Agencies

May 5 2010 // The largest U.S. public pension fund has won a court ruling allowing it to proceed with its lawsuit accusing the three biggest credit rating agencies of assigning “wildly inaccurate and unreasonably high”...

S&P Affirms AIG’s Ratings; Outlook Still Negative

Apr 2 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘A-/A-1’ counterparty credit ratings on American International Group Inc, as well as its ‘A+’ counterparty credit and financial strength...

S&P Revises Outlook to Stable on Zurich Operating Companies

Apr 1 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has revised the outlooks on the various operating entities of Switzerland’s Zurich Financial Services (collectively ZFS) to stable from negative.ZFS...

S&P Lowers AXA’s Ratings to ‘AA-‘

Apr 1 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings and insurer financial strength ratings on the core entities of France’s AXA group to ‘AA-‘ from...

AXIS Capital Prices $500 Million in Notes; S&P Assigns ‘A-‘ Rating

Mar 22 2010 // Bermuda-based AXIS Capital Holdings Limited announced that its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, AXIS Specialty Finance LLC, has priced an offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.875 percent Senior...

S&P Revises Hartford’s Outlook to Negative; Debt/Hybrids Assigned Ratings

Mar 17 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘BBB’ issue rating to Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.’s (HIG) proposed $1.1 billion senior debt offering. S&P assigned a...

PartnerRe Prices $500 Million Sr. Notes: S&P Assigns ‘A’ Rating

Mar 15 2010 // Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd. announced that it has priced, through its indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary PartnerRe Finance B LLC, $500 million of 10-year fixed rate 5.50 percent Senior Notes, pursuant to its currently...

Fairfax Financial to Buy Remaining Shares of Zenith National Insurance in $1.4 Billion Deal

Mar 8 2010 // Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Zenith National Insurance Corp. have entered into a merger agreement in which Fairfax will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Zenith...

S&P Analyzes EU’s Proposed Solvency II Regulations on ‘Hybrid Capital’

Mar 5 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published updated assumptions for assessing European insurance hybrid capital instruments (see “Assumptions: Implications Of Solvency II Proposals For Our European...

S&P Affirms Max Capital and Harbor Point Ratings

Mar 4 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘BBB’ counterparty credit ratings on Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance holding company Max Capital Group Ltd. and its intermediary...