Latest Moodys Headlines

All the headlines from our Moodys Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Ground Shifting for Medical Liability Insurers: Moody’s

Jan 23 2012 // Although it comprises just over 2 percent of annual direct premiums for the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry, the medical professional liability (MPL) insurance business is integral to the U.S. healthcare...

Ground Shifting for Medical Liability Insurers: Moody’s

Jan 3 2012 // Although it comprises just over two percent of annual direct premiums for the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry, the medical professional liability (MPL) insurance business is integral to the U.S. healthcare...

Moody’s Corp. Acquires Barrie & Hibbert

Dec 19 2011 // Moody’s Corp. has acquired Barrie & Hibbert Limited, a provider of risk management modeling tools for insurance companies worldwide. The acquisition broadens Moody’s Analytics suite of software solutions...

P/C Insurers’ Q3 Earnings Declined 70% From One Year Ago: Moody’s

Dec 5 2011 // Property/casualty insurance companies saw their income plummeting significantly in the latest earnings season. Moody’s Investors Service says a group of 23 publicly traded P/C insurers it rates had a whopping 70...

Foreign Insurers Must Decide If China’s Growth Outweighs Disadvantages

Nov 30 2011 // Foreign insurers will have to answer for themselves whether their disadvantaged position relative to domestic insurers in China is outweighed by the country’s very substantial overall market growth, according to...

Moody’s Reports on Proposed Systemic Risk Rules for Insurers

Nov 8 2011 // A key ratings agency says that recently proposed guidelines for identifying which insurers would qualify as systemic risks represent an important first step in improved federal regulation of financial institutions. The...

Accounting Rules to Hurt Insurers’ Ratios But Not Ratings: Moody’s

Oct 20 2011 // New accounting rules intended to align U.S. insurers’ varied approaches to accounting for deferred acquisition costs (DAC) will negatively affect insurers’ reported equity and some of the financial metrics that...

Moody’s: P/C Insurers More Mindful of Inflation Risks

Oct 11 2011 // Until recently, the risk of inflation shocks has not ranked high on the agenda for U.S. property/casualty insurers, Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report, but aggressive monetary policy over the past few...

SEC Concedes Challenges in Probes of Rating Agencies

Sep 30 2011 // The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faces hurdles proving wrongdoing at credit-rating agencies, the agency’s enforcement chief said, pointing to the complexity of the cases and the industry’s strong...

Rating Agencies Win Dismissal of Ohio Funds Lawsuit

Sep 28 2011 // The three major credit-rating agencies won the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that five Ohio pension funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars on risky mortgage debt because they relied on flawed ratings that made the...

Moody’s Sees Stable Outlook for Personal Lines Insurers

Aug 30 2011 // The personal lines insurance sector maintains a stable outlook in the face of a highly competitive environment, 2011 catastrophe losses and sluggish economic conditions, according to a report from Moody’s Investors...

When Rating Agencies Judge the World – an Analysis

Aug 3 2011 // The man who holds in his hands the fate of U.S. credit, and with it potentially the global economy, favors small tie knots, sports a bushy mustache and smokes his fair share of cigarettes. Beyond that, he is a mystery,...

Moody’s: U.S. P/C Insurers’ Report Meaningful 2010 Reserve Releases

Jul 26 2011 // U.S. property/casualty insurers reported meaningful reserve redundancies in their 2010 earnings, Moody’s Investors Service said, marking the sixth straight year in which the industry has posted a benefit to...

Moody’s Affirms California Earthquake Authority Bonds

Jul 22 2011 // Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed the A3 rating on the California Earthquake Authority’s (“CEA”) 6.169% fixed rate Series 2006-B revenue bonds (mature July 20, 2016) and changed the rating...

EU Slams Rating Agencies after Portugal Downgrade

Jul 7 2011 // European politicians accused credit rating agencies on Wednesday of anti-European bias after Moody’s downgrade of Portugal’s debt to “junk” cast new doubt on EU efforts to rescue distressed euro...

Leadership Turnover, and Women Executives, Rule at Fireman’s Fund

Jul 7 2011 // On Tuesday, Lori Dickerson Fouché was named president and CEO of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., making her the company’s fourth CEO in recent years. Fouché succeeds Michael LaRocco, at the helm of one of the...

P/C Insurers Can Handle Muni Bond Stress: Moody’s

Jul 7 2011 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry, which has about 60 percent of its equity capital base or — $355 billion– in municipal bonds remains exposed to disruptions in this asset class, but the overall...

Liability Lawsuits Against U.S. Rating Agencies Dismissed

May 11 2011 // The three major U.S. credit rating agencies won the dismissal of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable as “underwriters” for helping banks structure securities transactions to achieve desired ratings. The 2nd...

Credit Raters Triggered Financial Crisis, Says Senate Report

Apr 14 2011 // Moody’s Corp. and Standard and Poor’s triggered the worst financial crisis in decades when they were forced to downgrade the inflated ratings they slapped on complex mortgage-backed securities, a U.S....

Moody’s Affirms Rating of Fireman’s Fund; Outlook Stable

Dec 17 2010 // Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its A2 insurance financial strength rating for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. Moody’s also announced that its outlook for the Novato, Calif.-based insurer remains stable,...