Rating Agencies
Reinsurance M&A Will Advance in Earnest: A.M. Best
It is early in 2015 and we've already seen a few major reinsurance M&A deals. Expect that trend to continue in earnest through the year as the market responds to some new realities, A.M. Best ...
Fitch Puts Watch on Brit plc
Fitch Ratings has placed some of Brit plc's ratings on Rating Watch Negative following an announcement that Fairfax Financial Holdings intends to acquire Brit for roughly $1.9 billion. The ratings ...
Low Interest Rates Threaten Insurer Success in Europe: A.M. Best
Insurers and reinsurers alike could see some adverse affects from financial and social instability in the European Union, A.M. Best said in a new report. Points of concern range from quantitative ...
OneBeacon’s Adverse Reserve Developments Draw Fitch and Moody’s Attention
OneBeacon Insurance Group has been dealt a ratings outlook warning from Fitch Ratings and an outright downgrade from Moody's Investors Service, stemming from substantial adverse reserve development ...
S&P Will Pay $1.5B to Settle Suits Over Inflated Subprime Mortgage Bond Ratings
S&P, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc., will pay more than a year's profit to settle suits that it inflated ratings on subprime mortgage bonds at the center of the 2008 financial crisis. ...
The Hanover’s Diversification Earns a Standard & Poor’s Ratings Upgrade
The Hanover Insurance Group got a ratings upgrade from Standard & Poor's, which cited continued strategies at the Massachusetts-based insurer designed to reduce risk and improve its bottom line. ...
Fitch Ratings: Bermuda Reinsurers Adapting To a Tough 2015 Ahead
Merger-mania may be accelerating among property/casualty reinsurers. But as Fitch Ratings sees it, the Bermuda market in 2015 is adapting in the face of heavy competition, alternate sources of ...
S&P, A.M. Best Voice Caution over $11B AXIS/PartnerRe Merger Plan
AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. and PartnerRe Ltd's plan to merge in a massive $11 billion deal is drawing a cautious response from insurance ratings agencies and analysts. Standard & Poor's said on ...