Fitch Releases Its Review of U.S. Insurance Industry; Agency Looks Ahead to 2007.

CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings today released four 2007 Outlook reports for the U.S. insurance industry and will hold a teleconference on the insurance sector tomorrow morning (Dec. 7) when Fitch analysts will discuss three of the sectors: the Property & Casualty, Life and the Health & Managed Care business lines.

The four 'Outlook' reports, encompassing Life, P&C, Health & Managed Care and Title are now available on the front page of the Fitch web site, www.fitchratings.com under '2007 Sector Outlooks,' then Financial Institutions and Insurance.

Dec. 7, 2007 Conference Call Details:

Participants in the U.S. and Canada should call [phone] and participants outside North America should call [phone]. Participants should reference Conference ID # '3877711' dial-in least five minutes before the 10:30 a.m. EST start time and give the title of the call as '2007 Insurance Review and Outlook' or list the call leader, 'Julie Burke.'

Replay: Available two hours after the call ends. For the replay, interested parties should dial [phone] (U.S./Canada) or [phone] (outside North America). The conference ID number for the replay is '3877711'.

Web-based Audio Replay: Will be archived on the Fitch Ratings website for three months. Participants can find the appropriate audio link at the 'Teleconference and Online Events' link, located under 'About Fitch' at www.fitchratings.com two days after the call ends.

Insurance Sector Highlights - Property & Casualty:

Fitch believes that the property/casualty market's success in 2006 and the related growth in market capacity will further add to competitive pressure in the market and promote an acceleration of rate reductions in non-catastrophe-affected segments in 2007. Still, the industry is expected to produce another underwriting profit in 2007, with profitability that is reduced from 2006 results but favorable relative to historical norms. More information on the P&C sector is provided in today's Outlook Report and during the December 7 Teleconference.

Insurance Sector Highlights - Life Insurance:

Fitch's primary concerns include the difficult interest rate environment, the proliferation of product guarantees and intense price competition, and companies over-reaching for yield in a period of low interest rates and tight credit spreads. The ongoing industry shift from protection to asset accumulation products is creating competitive challenges for life insurers who lack scale and distribution, and is altering the industry's risk profile. More information on Life is provided in today's Outlook Report and during the Dec. 7 Teleconference.

Insurance Sector Highlights - Health and Managed Care:

Fitch's Rating Outlook for the U.S. health insurance/managed care sector has changed from Positive to Stable. Fitch expects strong margins to remain stable in 2007 driven by less commercial price competition, slightly improved investment yields, improvements in administrative costs, progress on company-specific restructuring initiatives and continued growth in lower margin businesses. More information on Health & Managed Care is provided in today's Outlook Report and during the Dec. 7 Teleconference.

Insurance Sector Highlights - Title Insurance:

Fitch maintained its Stable Outlook for the title insurance industry based on the opinion that title underwriters are well positioned to withstand the current downturn in the housing and mortgage markets that is negatively impacting title revenue and earnings. Favorable attributes of title insurance companies currently include general balance sheet strength, exemplified by solid absolute dollar and risk-adjusted surplus, redundant reserve positions and moderate financial leverage. Some key issues to watch in 2007 will be continued weakness in housing and mortgage markets, additional litigation targeting title companies and downward pricing pressure resulting from regulatory reviews. More information on Title Insurance is available in today's Outlook Report.

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.