Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P Raises Winterthur Ratings to ‘A+’ as AXA Completes Purchase

Jan 4 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Switzerland’s Winterthur Swiss Insurance Co. by two notches to “A+” from...

S&P Places Marsh & McLennan on CreditWatch

Dec 29 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services placed its ‘BBB/A-2’ counterparty credit rating on Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) on CreditWatch with developing implications.This action is in response to...

S&P Withdraws Nissay Dowa Ratings

Dec 29 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced from its office in Tokyo that it has withdrawn “its ‘A+’ financial strength rating on Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co. Ltd. (U.S. branch), and...

S&P Raises Czech Insurer’s Ratings

Dec 22 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Czech Republic-based insurer CSOB Pojistovna, a. s. to...

S&P Lowers United Fire & Casualty’s Rating to ‘A-‘ from ‘A’

Dec 21 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on United Fire & Casualty Co. and its wholly owned subsidiaries to ‘A-‘ from...

S&P Raises Outlook on Professionals Direct

Dec 20 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services recently revised its outlook on Professionals Direct Insurance Co. (PDIC) to stable from negative.Standard & Poor’s also said that it affirmed its ‘BBB’...

S&P Lowers Transatlantic Re’s Outlook

Dec 20 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Transatlantic Holdings Inc. (TRH) and its operating subsidiaries – Putnam Reinsurance Co., Trans Re Zurich, and Transatlantic Reinsurance Co....

S&P Revises B.E.S.T. Re Outlook to Positive; Affirms ‘BBB’ Ratings

Dec 20 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook to positive from stable on Tunisia-based reinsurer B.E.S.T. Reinsurance Co. (Best Re). S&P also affirmed the Company’s ‘BBB’...

S&P Assigns ‘A’ Rating to Mitsui (HK)

Dec 19 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its “A” counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd. (MSIHK) with a stable...

S&P Sees No Affect on Mapfre Sistema Ratings from Italian Auto Deal

Dec 19 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its “ratings and outlook on entities of the Spanish Sistema Mapfre insurance group are unaffected by its acquisition of 50 percent of the agency-based motor...

S&P Keeps Converium’s Ratings on CreditWatch/Positive

Dec 18 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services noted that its “BBB+” long-term counterparty credit and its insurer financial strength ratings on Converium AG, and “BBB+” long-term insurer financial...

S&P Foresees More Europe M&A’s; Teleconference Today-Details

Dec 15 2006 // A new report from Standard & Poor’s Equity Research – European Investment Outlook – Riding A Wave Of Volatility – foresees the volume of mergers and acquisition in Europe exceeding the €1.3...

S&P Report: ‘Legacy Issues’ for European Reinsurers Seen as Less ‘Problematical’

Nov 8 2006 // In a report, Major (Re)Insurers Address Legacy Reserving Issues, While U.S. Hurricane Season Is Quiet, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services notes that the “most significant development in recent months for...

A multi-billion loss in corporate equity with the stroke of a pen?

Nov 6 2006 // Major earthquakes, category 5 hurricanes and terrorist attacks strike in an unpredictable manner. A fortune teller who could predict when the next of any of these events will occur would be hailed as the next Nostradamus....

A multi-billion loss in corporate equity with the stroke of a pen?

Nov 6 2006 // Major earthquakes, category 5 hurricanes and terrorist attacks strike in an unpredictable manner. A fortune teller who could predict when the next of any of these events will occur would be hailed as the next Nostradamus....

A multi-billion loss in corporate equity with the stroke of a pen?

Nov 5 2006 // Major earthquakes, category 5 hurricanes and terrorist attacks strike in an unpredictable manner. A fortune teller who could predict when the next of any of these events will occur would be hailed as the next Nostradamus....

S&P Sees No Rating Change in Canopius Acquisition of Creechurch

Oct 26 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its “interactive Lloyd’s Syndicate Assessment (LSA) of ‘2+/Stable’ on Canopius Managing Agents – Syndicate 4444 and its public...

S&P: Some Ratings ‘Not Affected’ by Italy Downgrade

Oct 20 2006 // After Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered its country ratings on Italy to “A+” from “AA-” it issued a supplementary bulletin that reaffirmed its ratings on three of the...

S&P’s Positive Reaction to Equitas/National Indemnity Deal

Oct 20 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services reacted positively to the news that Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity will initially back and could eventually take over Lloyd’s run-off vehicle Equitas Ltd....

S&P Rates XL Re Europe ‘A+’

Oct 19 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has assigned its “A+” counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to newly created, Dublin-based XL Re Europe Ltd. The new Company will assume all non-life...