Fitch Introduces Global Insurance-Linked Securities Group to Support ILS Market Growth.

LONDON & CHICAGO & NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has formed a global analytical working group that will rate all forms of insurance-linked securities, including catastrophe bonds, redundant reserves (Regulation XXX), disability income, catastrophic mortality and embedded value transactions. This ILS working group will continue to update Fitch's existing rating methodologies and develop new methodologies as the ILS marketplace rapidly evolves.

The ILS market witnessed nearly $5.6 billion of issuance in 2005 and $8.9 billion in 2006, an increase of 59%. Going forward, Fitch expects volume in this sector to increase by approximately 30% in 2007.

Current Fitch analysts who will devote time to the ILS working group come from Fitch's offices in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Brisbane.

'The creation of this group takes advantage of Fitch's multi-national rating capabilities which is essential given the global nature of the ILS market,' said Donald Thorpe, Senior Director, Fitch Ratings and head of the new global ILS group. 'The move also capitalizes on the need for expertise in both the Insurance and Structured Finance sectors to appropriately assess and monitor the complex risk characteristics of these transactions.'

'This announcement formalizes an organizational structure that Fitch has used to rate these securities for some time now,' said Kevin Duignan, Managing Director, Asset-Backed Securities. 'Fitch's allocation of full time, dedicated resources is keeping pace with the volume and size of the ILS marketplace.'

Fitch Ratings is a leading global rating agency committed to providing the world's credit markets with accurate, timely and prospective credit opinions. Built on a foundation of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, Fitch Ratings has grown rapidly during the past decade gaining market presence throughout the world and across all fixed income markets.

Fitch Ratings is dual-headquartered in New York and London, operating offices and joint ventures in 50 locations and covering entities in more than 90 countries. Fitch Ratings is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fimalac, S.A., an international business support services group headquartered in Paris, France.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use 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 are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.