Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P Experts See Latest Pricing Downturn as ‘Something Different’

Jun 4 2007 // Experts say market conditions in the property/casualty insurance and reinsurance sector indicate the hard market, however short, is now over, and the industry is witnessing the beginning of the pricing cycle’s...

S&P Affirms AXIS Ratings; Raises Outlook to Positive

Jun 1 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its “BBB+” counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. and affirmed its “A” counterparty credit and financial...

S&P Warns EU Insurers Not to Ignore Solvency II

May 31 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a report – “Beware Solvency II: As The 2010 Implementation Date Looms Closer, European Insurers Should Ignore It At Their Peril” -, warning the...

S&P Affirms PartnerRe Ratings; Raises Outlook to Stable

May 31 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on PartnerRe Ltd. and its operating subsidiaries– Partner Reinsurance Co. Ltd., PartnerRe S.A., and Partner Reinsurance Co. of U.S. (collectively,...

S&P Sees Japan P/C Sector as ‘Stable’

May 30 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services latest report on the Japanese non-life industry concludes that, despite large payouts the sector remains relatively stable.However, 2006 was not a particularly good year....

S&P Assigns ‘B’ Ratings to Hub Int’l.

May 29 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its “B” counterparty credit rating to Hub International Ltd. with a stable outlook. S&P also assigned its “B” senior secured debt...

Munich Re to Issue €1 Billion in Bonds; Best, S&P Comment

May 29 2007 // Munich Re announced that it is preparing to issue a subordinated bond for approximately €1 billion ($1.3456 billion). The reinsurer described the debt issue as “a perpetual bond and callable by Munich Re from ten...

S&P: Revises ‘Risk-Based Insurance Capital Model’

May 25 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published an article titled, “New Risk-Based Insurance Capital Model,” which details revisions it has made in its risk-based capital adequacy model. S&P...

S&P Rates Dubai’s Salama ‘BBB+’; Upgrades B.E.S.T. Re to ‘BBB+’

May 25 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its “BBB+” long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Salama/Islamic Arab Insurance Co. (P.S.C.) (Salama/IAIC), located in...

R&SA Offers $1.16 Billion for Codan Minority Shares; Best, S&P Comment

May 25 2007 // The UK’s Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc, through its wholly-owned subsidiary RSA Overseas Holdings B.V., announced an all cash tender offer for all for the outstanding shares in Denmark’s Codan...

S&P to Hold Insurance Capital Model Enhancement Conference Today

May 24 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services will hold a telephone conference call on Thursday, May 24, at 10:00 AM Eastern Time.S&P said “the call will cover the major enhancement that will be introduced to...

S&P Ups Hannover Re Outlook to Stable; Affirms ‘AA-‘ Ratings

May 23 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has revised its outlook to stable from negative on German reinsurer Hannover Rückversicherung-AG and its core entities, collectively referred to as Hannover Re. The Group is...

S&P Report Says Insurers’ Climate Change Concerns are Real

May 23 2007 // A new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services – “Insurers Seek To Weather Changes In The Weather” – stresses that for the insurance industry, “climate’s impact...

‘Big 3’ brokers still feeling effects of Spitzer attack, Standard & Poor’s says

May 21 2007 // The October 2004 attack by then New York Attorney General, now Governor, Eliot Spitzer against bid rigging and contingent commissions generated significant losses, both in income and competitiveness, for the world’s...

Big 3 brokers still feeling Spitzer effect

May 21 2007 // The attack that began in October 2002 by then New York Attorney General, now Governor, Eliot Spitzer against bid rigging and contingent commissions generated significant losses, both in income and competitiveness, for the...

‘Big 3’ brokers still feeling effects of Spitzer attack, Standard & Poor’s says

May 21 2007 // The October 2004 attack by then New York Attorney General, now Governor, Eliot Spitzer against bid rigging and contingent commissions generated significant losses, both in income and competitiveness, for the world’s...

S&P Lowers RVI Guaranty Ratings

May 21 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its rating on R.V.I. Guaranty Co. Ltd., R.V.I. America Insurance Co., and R.V.I. National Insurance Co. (collectively referred to as RVI) to “A-” from...

Ratings Recap: Blue Ocean Re

May 21 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its letter of credit (LOC) rating on Blue Ocean Re Ltd.’s $50 million LOC facility to “A-1+” from “A-1.” In April S&P affirmed its...

White Mountains to Issue $250 Million in Preferred Shares; S&P, Fitch Ratings

May 17 2007 // The Bermuda-based White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, White Mountains Re Group, Ltd., intends to offer and sell 250,000 fixed/floating perpetual non-cumulative preference...

Ratings Recap: Inter-Industry,Co-operators Financial, Fairfax, Flagstone

May 16 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of “B+” (Good) and the issuer credit rating of “bbb-” of Inter-Industry Insurance Company Limited (III), headquartered on the Isle of Man,...