Rating Agencies
Unnamed Rating Agencies Fail to Follow Criteria, Keep Adequate Records, SEC Says
Credit raters failed to follow their own criteria, allowed research analysts to discuss fees with issuers and kept incomplete records, according to a report from the U.S. Securities and Exchange ...
Capacity Keeping E&S Market Competitive; Berkshire Impact Yet to Materialize: Fitch
Growing capacity will limit rate hikes and promote persistent competition in the excess and surplus lines market, Fitch Ratings said in a report earlier this week. The U.S. E&S market, which ...
A.M. Best Cuts Tower Group Rating to B from B++
On Friday, A.M. Best Co. announced that the rating agency has downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to B (Fair) from B++ (Good) of the pooled and reinsured members of the Tower US Pool. The ...Fitch Affirms QBE Financial Strength at A+, Downgrades Issuer Default Rating
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the "A-plus" insurer financial strength (IFS) ratings for the subsidiaries of QBE Insurance Group, while downgrading the group's long-term issuer default rating (IDR) to ...
Fitch Predicts Double-Digit Cuts in January U.S. Cat Re Prices
The quietest U.S. Atlantic hurricane season in decades will lead to a low double-digit fall in related catastrophe reinsurance pricing in the key 2014 renewals, Fitch Ratings says. Noting that the ...
EU Watchdog Sees Failings in Sovereign Debt Ratings Process
The "Big Three" agencies that rate European Union government debt could be fined after failing to fix poor practices from the past, the sector's regulator said on Monday. Credit ratings are a key ...
S&P Says U.S. Fraud Lawsuit Over Ratings is Too Broad for Trial
McGraw Hill Financial Inc.'s Standard & Poor's unit said the U.S. government has broadened the securities covered in its fraud lawsuit against the ratings company so that the case would be ...
A.M. Best Urges Reinsurers to Innovate, Close Disaster Coverage Gaps as Capital Markets ‘Get Comfortable’
Characterizing the threat of third-party capital as an "adrenaline shot to the heart" of U.S. and Bermuda reinsurers, A.M. Best urges the reinsurers to innovate beyond simply managing capital of ...