September 26, 2008
Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is not pleased by Standard & Poor’s announcement that it was lowering the Company’s financial strength rating from ‘A’ to ‘A-‘ with a stable outlook, following Liberty’s completion of its acquisition of Safeco. In a bulletin …
September 25, 2008
Swiss Re said on Thursday its investment portfolio remains sound despite tough financial markets and reaffirmed its targets as additional writedowns were lower than many had expected. The world’s largest reinsurer also said it had taken steps to reduce its …
September 23, 2008
A report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ Paris office – “Global Financial Institutions Eye Another Wave Of Write-Downs As U.S. Housing Woes Spread -” forecasts that global financial institutions “will face more securities write-downs combined with rising loan losses …
September 22, 2008
Some Wyoming lawmakers say it’s time to increase many of the benefits given to injured workers under the state’s workers’ compensation program. The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee recently discussed revamping the system and tried calculating how much …
September 22, 2008
The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry reported mixed results in the first six months of 2008. Profitability declined due to poor investment performance and deteriorating accident-year underwriting results, which were partially offset by favorable prior years’ loss reserve development, says Fitch …
September 18, 2008
A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength ratings (FSR) to ‘A’ (Excellent) from ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICRs) to “a” from “a-” of Hiscox Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited, Hiscox Insurance Company Limited (Hisco) and Hiscox Insurance …
September 17, 2008
The Netherlands AEGON has released details of its exposure to Lehman Brothers, following its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. AEGON said it “does not hold common equity in Lehman Brothers. During 2008, AEGON has actively lowered …
September 17, 2008
A.M. Best’s preliminary assessment of the potential financial impact from Hurricane Ike concludes that, even though its passage was a “sizeable catastrophic event, the overall financial impact to both the primary and reinsurance sectors is expected to be generally manageable …
September 16, 2008
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a” of France’s Groupama S.A. Best also affirmed the FSR of ‘A’ (Excellent) and ICR of “a” of Groupama Vie and …
September 16, 2008
Following Ike’s march through Texas, S&P noted that the preliminary estimates of insured losses “vary from $6 billion to $18 billion. (These figures include onshore and offshore exposure.)” Before discussing the possible negative effects on earnings of the recent spate …