So close and yet so far! How to turn a positive outlook into an upgrade. Achieving a rating upgrade once the outlook has been changed to positive is often regarded as little more than a formality. However, what could be taken for granted may turn out to
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Re/Insurers rating downgrades: it’s not just about the capital! For almost all cedants and brokers the “financial strength” rating of their reinsurers remains a fundamental part of their selection process. For reinsurers, achieving and maintaining a rating at the desired level is mission critical. Many cedants themselves
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You and your Rating Agency – Top Tips In an update to our article first published in 2013 (“The Litmus First XI – Top Tips for Managing the Relationship with your Rating Agency”), we share some further insights we have gained over the last four years.
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Core elements of difference in A.M. Best and S&P rating criteria On 10 March 2016 A.M. Best published its draft insurance rating criteria for public comment. The initial comment period closed on 30 June and updated criteria reflecting Best’s reactions to the comments, and a further comment period, are expected later this year, with the stated goal to release and implement the final criteria in early to
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As S&P continues to roll out ratings reflecting its new insurance criteria, those of Spanish reinsurers Nacional Re and Mapfre Re give a specific illustration of the impact of the sovereign rating. Many market participants have viewed the two reinsurers as fundamentally ‘A’ range security prior to
Read more →Controversial though they can be, financial strength ratings, and particularly those from S&P and AM Best, continue to be central to the transaction process in reinsurance globally and in many primary markets. The confirmation this week of fundamental changes in S&P’s ratings process is therefore, to borrow
Read more →This is an article written by Stuart Shipperlee in November 2012, before this blog existed. Nevertheless the content is still relevant and presages potential important news later this year. At its latest seminar this week, S&P confirmed again that rating changes, including some downgrades, are highly likely
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