Latest S&P Headlines

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

S&P’s Affirms ‘BBB+’ Ratings on Taiwan’s Central Re

Aug 1 2002 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its triple-‘B’-plus insurer financial strength and counter party credit ratings on Central Reinsurance Corp. (Central Re). The outlook on the counter party...

S&P’s Says Hartford Fire Outlook Remains Negative

Jul 31 2002 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, commenting on Hartford Fire Insurance Co.’s (Hartford Fire) second-quarter earnings, said that the outlook for the company and related property/casualty entities remains...

S&P’s Lowers Eastern Casualty Co. Ratings to ‘Bbpi’

Jul 22 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Eastern Casualty Insurance Co. to double-‘Bpi’ from triple-‘Bpi’ citing a decline in capitalization...

S&P’s Lowers Northwest Physicians Mutual Ratings to ‘Bpi’

Jul 22 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Oregon-based Northwest Physicians Mutual Insurance Co. to single-‘Bpi’ from triple-‘Bpi’ because of...

SAFECO Ratings Affirmed

Jul 19 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has assigned its preliminary triple-‘B’-plus senior debt, triple-‘B’ subordinated debt, and triple-‘B’-minus preferred stock ratings to Seattle- based SAFECO...

S&P, A.M. Best, Stock Markets React to Munich Re Announcement

Jul 12 2002 // The reaction to Munich Re’s announcement that it would strengthen reserves at American Re and for the WTC attacks by a total of $2.5 billion (See IJ Website July 11) had a decidedly unsettling effect. Standard &...

S&P Says ‘Wait ’til Next Year’ for Hard Market to Ease

Jul 8 2002 // At its Insurance 2002 conference in New York recently, Standard and Poor’s offered little consolation to insurance agents and brokers who are looking for quick relief from the pressures of the current hard...

SP’s Says ‘Wait ’til Next Year’ for Hard Market

Jul 8 2002 // At its Insurance 2002 conference in New York recently, Standard and Poor’s offered little consolation to insurance agents and brokers who are looking for quick relief from the pressures of the current hard...

S&P, A.M. Best Give “A” Ratings to Wellington Re

Jun 26 2002 // Standard & Poor’s assigned its single-‘A’ counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to U.K.-based Wellington Reinsurance Ltd; while A.M. Best rated the London based reinsurer A...

S&P Revises Outlook on France’s Abeille to Positive

Jun 26 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on French non-life insurer Abeille Assurances to “positive” from stable.” The change, said S&P, reflects “the likelihood of an upgrade by...

S&P Lowers Ratings on Gerling Re and Related Units

Jun 19 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it has lowered its counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Germany’s Gerling-Konzern Globale Ruckversicherungs-AG (GKG), Gerling Global’s main...

S&P Affirms ING Re’s ‘AA+’ Ratings

Jun 17 2002 // Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its double-‘A’-plus counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on ING Re (Netherlands) N.V. with a negative outlook, following its annual review of the...

S&P Affirms ‘A’ Rating on Norwegian Hull Club

Jun 17 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced a revised outlook, from negative to stable, and affirmed its single-‘A’ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on mutual insurer Norwegian...

S&P Lowers AXA General Hong Kong Rating to ‘BBpi’

Jun 12 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it has lowered its public information (‘pi’) rating on AXA General Insurance Hong Kong Ltd., a subsidiary of France’s AXA Group, to double-‘Bpi’...

Standard and Poor’s Has No Plans to Downgrade CMBS Deals for Terrorism Coverage

Jun 11 2002 // According to analysts, Standard & Poor’s does not intend to place existing commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions on CreditWatch or take any downgrade action because of terrorism insurance...

S&P Rates Travelers P/C Pool

Jun 10 2002 // S&P has affirmed its single-‘A’-minus counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on Travelers Property/Casualty Corp. (Travelers) and its double-‘A’-minus counterparty credit and financial...

Oil Ins. Ltd. on Watch Negative

Jun 10 2002 // Standard & Poor’s lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Oil Insurance Ltd. to “A+” and placed the company on CreditWatch with negative implications because of catastrophe...

S&P Lowers EulerHermes Group to ‘AA’ for Technical Reasons

Jun 7 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it has lowered its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on the main operating entities of the Euler&Hermes Group, which specializes in credit...

S&P Affirms Assicurazioni Generali ‘AA’ Rating

Jun 5 2002 // Standard & Poor’s announced that it has affirmed its double-‘A’ insurer financial strength and counterparty credit ratings on Assicurazioni Generali SpA, the parent and main property-casualty...

S&P Midyear Report Negative on Reinsurers

Jun 4 2002 // Standard & Poor’s midyear survey of the reinsurance industry highlights a number of problems, with the effects of low returns from competitive pricing, high loss ratios, low investment returns and new...