Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P Raises Royal&Sun Ratings to ‘A’

Dec 12 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on the main operating entities of The Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group PLC (RSA) to...

Ratings Roundup: Bond Safeguard, Lexon, Gerling US

Dec 12 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Bond Safeguard Insurance Co. and Lexon Insurance Co. to negative from stable. S&P also affirmed its ‘BBB-‘ counterparty credit and...

Ratings Recap: Thai Re, Aspen, Valiant, Qatar Insurance

Dec 10 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term local currency counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Thai Reinsurance Public Co. Ltd. (Thai Re) to ‘A-‘ from...

S&P Details Actions Taken on ‘Public Information’ Ratings

Dec 10 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has announced various rating actions on insurance companies with public information (pi) ratings. S&P explained that “ratings with a ‘pi’ subscript are...

S&P Downgrades MMC’s Ratings to ‘BBB-‘ on Marsh Problems

Dec 6 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit rating on Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BBB’ as well as its short-term debt rating on MMC to...

Ratings Roundup: Everest Re, Bison, PMG, Liffey Re,

Dec 6 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Everest Re Group Ltd., its operating subsidiaries, Everest Reinsurance Co., Everest National Insurance Co., and Everest Reinsurance (Bermuda) Ltd.;...

Ratings Recap: China (NZ), Hannover ReTakaful, Fairfax, Radian (Europe)

Dec 5 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bbb-” of China Insurance (NZ) Company Limited of New Zealand with a stable outlook. The ratings...

U.S. Personal Lines Insurers Trying To Maintain Profits In Softening Market

Dec 4 2007 // U.S. personal lines insurance sector is at a critical juncture, according to an article published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. The article, which is titled “2008 U.S. Personal Lines Outlook: A...

S&P Report Examines Calif. Earthquake Insurance

Dec 2 2007 // The Golden State got a jolt on Oct. 30 with a 5.6 magnitude earthquake just outside of San Jose. An article published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, “Is California’s Earthquake Insurance...

S&P: Softening Prices Should Start To Affect U.S. Commercial Lines Insurers

Nov 30 2007 // Another very profitable year for commercial lines insurers, sparked by yet another exceptionally mild hurricane season, is emerging for the entire U.S. property/casualty industry, says Standard & Poor’s Ratings...

S&P: Japan Non-Life Insurers ‘Show Improvement in Profits’

Nov 29 2007 // A report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services concludes that Japan’s top nine non-life insurers recorded ¥173 billion ($1.575 billion) in interim net profits for the first half of fiscal 2007 (ended...

Ratings Recap: PhilNaRe, Atlas IV Cat Bond, HSBC (Bermuda), Cunningham Lindsey

Nov 29 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of ‘B++’ (Good) and an issuer credit rating of “bbb” to National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (PhilNaRe) with a stable outlook....

S&P: Discipline Will Be The Key To Insurers’ Success in 2008

Nov 28 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a report, noting the 2008 outlook for the North American property/casualty insurance, life, health, and reinsurance sectors are stable due to several years of strong...

S&P Says Saudi Insurance Market Able to Meet Regulatory Challenges

Nov 27 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has said that it considers the Saudi insurance market to possess the “inherent strengths,” which will allow it to “ride out” forthcoming regulatory...

S&P Announces Rating Actions on Five Major Mortgage Insurers

Nov 26 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced a number of rating actions, covering five mortgage guarantee insurers: Radian Group, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance PMI Group, Triad Guaranty and Old Republic. The...

Ratings Recap: MMA, Shinkong, First Ins., Singapore Re, Swiss Re, W.R. Berkley (Europe)

Nov 21 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on France-based insurer MMA IARD Assurances Mutuelle (MMA IARD) to ‘A’ from...

S&P Comments on KAMP RE Extension Notice; No Rating Change

Nov 20 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services acknowledged that it has received a copy of an extension notice from the administrator for KAMP RE 2005 Ltd. “As permitted under the transaction documents, Swiss...

Spain’s Mapfre Sees Commerce as Portal to Expansion in U.S.

Nov 18 2007 // The potential of the Hispanic insurance market is one of the factors attracting Spanish insurer Mapfre to its acquisition of the Webster, Mass.-based personal lines writer Commerce Group.Mapfre officials calculate that...

S&P to Hold Conferences on European Bank Sector

Nov 16 2007 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it will be holding conferences on the European bank sector across Europe. The meetings will concentrate on “how financial institutions are managing their way through the...

S&P Reports Ratings Gap ‘Narrowing’ between Middle East & UK Insurers

Nov 16 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published “How Middle East Non-Life Insurers Are Developing From A Rating Perspective: A Comparison With The U.K..” S&P initially stated: “Middle...