Fitch Affirms MassMutual at 'AAA'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings has affirmed all ratings on Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company MassMutual Financial Group is the fleet name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and its affiliates, with more than 13 million clients and over $455 billion in assets under management at year-end 2006. (MassMutual) and its wholly-owned insurance subsidiaries (See complete list below). The Rating Outlook is Stable. MassMutual's exceptionally strong insurer financial strength rating reflects the company's large and stable block of traditional life insurance, very strong capital levels, solid competitive position in several major business lines, consistent profitability, high quality investment portfolio and modest financial leverage. Fitch views MassMutual's very strong statutory capital position as the most significant factor in the company's ratings. MassMutual's NAIC NAIC See National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC). risk-based capital (RBC RBC red blood cell. RBC or rbc abbr. red blood cell RBC, n See red blood cell count. RBC red blood cells; red blood (cell) count (see blood count). ) ratio is expected to be close to 450% at year-end 2006. Further, Fitch believes MassMutual has significant additional economic capital relative to risk given the low carrying value of its asset management operations compared to estimated market values and the participating nature of the company's in-force life business. Fitch expects MassMutual to maintain its RBC ratio at over 400%. Financial leverage is modest with surplus notes representing only 8.7% of statutory surplus at Sept. 30, 2006. MassMutual's earnings performance reflects the company's favorable mortality and persistency experience, strong investment results and competitive cost structure. Recent earnings results have been negatively affected by statutory strain from new sales and MassMutual's comparatively high level of policyholder dividend payments. Fitch believes MassMutual has made significant progress in strengthening its internal controls and enterprise risk management processes since Stuart Reese took the helm in mid-2005 after the termination of Robert O'Connell. Efforts to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley for 2006 are almost complete and well ahead of expected regulatory mandates. Fitch does not expect significant shifts in MassMutual's strategy or organizational form. The ratings on C.M. Life Insurance Company (CM Life) and MML MML - Human-Machine Language. A language from ITU-T for telecommunications applications. It has a complex natural-language syntax. [CCITT Recommendations Z.311-Z.318, Z-341, Nov 1984]. Bay State Life Insurance Company (MML Bay State), which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of MassMutual, are based on Fitch's view that they are core operating companies within the MassMutual organization. MassMutual Global Funding, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control is a limited liability company domiciled in the Cayman Islands. MassMutual Global Funding II is a statutory trust domiciled in the state of Delaware. The companies and trusts were established for the sole purpose of issuing debt instruments secured by funding agreements issued by MassMutual. MassMutual Financial Group is the fleet name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and its affiliates. MassMutual is headquartered in Springfield, MA. Its affiliates include OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; MML Investors Services, Inc., MassMutual International LLC and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB (FrontSide Bus) See system bus. FSB - front side bus . The company has more than 13 million clients and over $415 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. as of June 30, 2006. Fitch has affirmed the following ratings for MassMutual with a Stable Outlook: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company --Insurer financial strength (IFS) at 'AAA'; --Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) at 'AA+'; --$250 million 7.625% surplus note due Nov. 15, 2023 at 'AA'; --$100 million 7.500% surplus note due March 1, 2024 at 'AA'; --$250 million 5.625% surplus note due May 15, 2033 at 'AA'. C.M. Life Insurance Company --Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) at 'AAA'. MML Bay State Life Insurance Company --IFS at 'AAA'. MassMutual Funding, LLC --Short term at 'F1+'. MassMutual Global Funding, LLC --Secured notes program at 'AAA'. MassMutual Global Funding II --Secured notes program at 'AAA'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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