Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P Finds European Insurance Holds Up Despite Market Conditions

Dec 11 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published its latest findings on the state of European insurers. It concludes that for the most part, “with the exception of the relatively small number of...

S&P Affirms ING Ratings; Outlook Revised to Negative

Dec 11 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it has revised its outlooks on ING Groep N.V., ING Verzekeringen N.V., ING Bank N.V., and certain related entities to negative from stable. S&P also...

Ratings Roundup: Mapfre, Ghana Re

Dec 10 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings has revised its outlook on Spain’s Mapfre S.A and related core subsidiaries (Mapfre Empresas, Compania de Seguros y Reaseguros, S.A. and Mapfre Re Compañía de Reaseguros, S.A.)...

Ratings Recap: HDI (Italy), Provident, Polish Re, Arab Insurance Group

Dec 8 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has placed its ‘A’ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Italy-based insurer HDI Assicurazioni SpA (HDI/Italia or HDI/I) on...

S&P Warns of ‘Multi-Notch Downgrades’ on 5 Mortgage Insurers

Dec 8 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has placed its ratings on five major U.S. mortgage insurers and their core and dependent foreign subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications. These...

S&P Affirms Allianz Mexico Ratings; Outlook Stable

Dec 8 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its ‘A-‘ global financial strength rating and its ‘mxAAA’ national scale rating on Mexico-based Allianz Mexico Compañía de Seguros S.A....

S&P Raises Hiscox (UK) Ratings to ‘A’; Assigns Stable Outlook

Dec 2 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on U.K.-based non-life insurer Hiscox Insurance Co. Ltd. (HISCO) to ‘A’ from...

Ratings: Ancon/Petroleum Casualty, Horace Mann, Great Northwest

Dec 2 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A++’ (Superior) from ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) to “aa+” from “aa” of Ancon Insurance...

S&P Says Global Reinsurers Need Price Rises To Rebuild Capital

Nov 26 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said in a report published today that reinsurers have had sufficient excess capital available to absorb the shocks of the past year, but much of that cushion has now been...

Ratings Recap: Malaysian Re, Asia Capital Re, AGS (Diageo), NEMI

Nov 25 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of Malaysian Reinsurance Berhad (Malaysian Re), both with stable outlooks....

S&P Affirms Aon’s ‘BBB+’ Ratings; Removed from CreditWatch/Negative

Nov 24 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘BBB+’ counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Aon Corp. and has removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they had been placed...

S&P Raises Hannover Re Africa Ratings to ‘A’

Nov 21 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on South Africa-based non-life reinsurer Hannover Reinsurance Africa Ltd. to ‘A’...

S&P Raises Munich Re Africa Ratings

Nov 21 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on South Africa-based reinsurer Munich Reinsurance Co. of Africa Ltd. to ‘A’...

S&P Revises Atradius Outlook to Negative; Affirms Ratings

Nov 21 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised to negative from stable its outlook on Atradius Credit Insurance N.V., Atradius Reinsurance Ltd., Atradius Trade Credit Insurance Inc., and Compañía Española de...

Best, S&P Affirm State Auto Ratings Following Rockhill Agreement

Nov 20 2008 // Both A.M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have affirmed their respective ratings on the State Auto Group of Companies, which are in turn the operating divisions of State Auto Financial...

Ratings: Travelers (UK), Bison, Dubai Islamic, Milli Re, Hang Seng, LIG

Nov 19 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a+” of UK-based Travelers Insurance Company Limited (TIC). The outlook for both ratings...

S&P Assesses Current Conditions for Bermuda Insurers, Reinsurers

Nov 14 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has just published a new study – “Bermuda Insurers And Reinsurers: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly – ” which examines the current status of the...

Market Perception of Creditworthiness Affects Insurers, Says S&P

Nov 13 2008 // A report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services notes that “in a confidence-sensitive industry, many insurers have seen their financial strength acutely affected by market perception of their credit...

S&P: Market Perception of Creditworthiness Affects Insurers

Nov 13 2008 // In a confidence-sensitive industry, many insurers have seen their financial strength acutely affected by market perception of their credit quality, according to “Evaluating Liquidity Triggers In Insurance...

S&P Comments on International Group P&I Club Negative Rating Actions

Nov 12 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services noted that ” many members of the International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs (IG) have been hit by the recent turmoil in the global financial markets....