S&P Lowers Rtgs, Outlooks on Japan Nonlife Insurers.Business EditorsTOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's April 2, 2001--Standard & Poor's today lowered its counterparty Counterparty The other participant, including intermediaries, in a swap or contract. credit and insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. financial strength ratings on Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. and Yasuda Yasuda (安田) was formed by Yasuda Zenjiro. Yasuda founded the third national bank of Japan in 1876. It is currently operating as Fuji Bank Ltd. It is Japan's sixth largest bank. Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. to double-'A' from double-'A'-plus. The outlooks on the counterparty credit ratings are negative. At the same time, Standard & Poor's revised the outlooks on its ratings on Fuji Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. to negative from stable. Meanwhile, the ratings on Fuji Fire and Kyoei Fire, along with the ratings on Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd., and Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., were affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. . (See related press release, "S&P Rates 3 New Japanese Nonlife Insurance Companies," published today.) The ratings actions reflect the increasingly difficult operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. for Japan's nonlife insurers. Industry competition, while more disciplined than in some other markets, is expected to pressure companies' core insurance earnings over the medium term. At the same time, the investment environment, characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. by low interest rates and a weak stock market, shows no signs of recovery. The industry is also going through rapid structural changes, as nonlife insurers form strategic alliances both within the sector and with other domestic and foreign financial institutions. Distribution reform, including the liberalization lib·er·al·ize v. lib·er·al·ized, lib·er·al·iz·ing, lib·er·al·iz·es v.tr. To make liberal or more liberal: "Our standards of private conduct have been greatly liberalized . . . of the agency commission system and the development of alternative channels such as banks and life insurance solicitors, has the potential to fundamentally alter the industry's competitive dynamics. Standard & Poor's believes that the current situation represents only the beginning of industry restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). , and that more change is likely over the next few years. The downgrade Downgrade A negative change in the rating of a security. Notes: For example, an analyst may downgrade a stock from strong buy to buy, or a bond rating agency may downgrade a bond from AAA to AA. of Sumitomo Marine also reflects uncertainties related to the success of its merger with Mitsui Marine in October 2001. Sumitomo Marine maintains excellent business and financial profiles, including the strongest underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. performance in the industry. However, the merger carries risks related to its execution. In addition, while the merger will create an insurer with very strong business position, it is uncertain whether the new entity can sustain strong earnings amid rising industry competition and Japan's depressed investment environment, Standard & Poor's said. --CreditWire RATINGS LOWERED Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA/Negative/- Financial strength rtg AA Senior unsecured debt AA Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA/Negative/- Financial strength rtg AA Senior unsecured debt (shelf) AA OUTLOOK REVISED TO NEGATIVE Fuji Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Counterparty credit rtg BBB/Negative/- Financial strength rtg BBB Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Counterparty credit rtg BBB-/Negative/- Financial strength rtg BBB- RATINGS AFFIRMED Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA/Negative/A-1+ Financial strength rtg AA Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA/Negative/- Financial strength rtg AA Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+/Negative/- Financial strength rtg AA+ |
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