S&P Releases English Report on Sanyo Shinpan Servicer.Business Editors TOKYO--(Standard & Poor's)--Standard & Poor's Nov. 14, 2001-- Standard & Poor's today placed its double-'A'-plus 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 and counterparty Counterparty The other participant, including intermediaries, in a swap or contract. credit ratings on Tokio Tokio: see Tokyo, Japan. Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. and its related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications. At the same time, Standard & Poor's today placed its double-'A' insurer financial strength and counterparty credit ratings on Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placements follow Tokio Marine's announcement yesterday that it has agreed to enter discussions on providing various types of financial and business support to Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Company (朝日生命保険相互会社 Asahi Seimei Hoken Sōgo-kaisha) is a Japanese insurance company. External links
-- The possibility of Tokio Marine providing "kikin" funding, a type of subordinated debt, to Asahi Life: -- A possible transfer of Asahi's new business-related franchise to Tokio Marine's fully owned life insurance subsidiary, Tokio Marine Life Insurance Co. Ltd., targeted for March 2002; and -- A possible merger between the remaining operations of Asahi Life and Tokio Marine Life targeted for March 2003. Details of the proposed support, including the amount of kikin funding that Tokio Marine would provide, will be decided by January January: see month. 2002. Still, Standard & Poor's believes that the announcement signifies Tokio Marine's explicit intention to provide financial support to Asahi Life, which is facing serious asset quality issues and weakened weak·en tr. & intr.v. weak·ened, weak·en·ing, weak·ens To make or become weak or weaker. weak  en·er n. capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. . Such support could adversely impact Tokio
Marine's financial strength, despite its solid financial and
operational profile in the Japanese nonlife sector.While it is unclear at this stage whether Nichido will be directly involved in supporting Asahi Life, its integral position within Millea Insurance Group, which also includes Tokio Marine, Asahi Life, and Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (BBB-/Developing/--), suggests that its credit quality cannot be fully isolated from factors affecting other group members. Standard & Poor's expects the credit quality of Millea Group members to eventually converge con·verge v. con·verged, con·verg·ing, con·verg·es v.intr. 1. a. To tend toward or approach an intersecting point: lines that converge. b. . Moreover, there remains uncertainty over the life insurance strategy of the Millea Insurance Group. In addition to Asahi Life, the three nonlife insurers in the group all have separate life insurance subsidiaries. The ratings on Asahi Life remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Nov. 8, 2001, based on continuing concerns over asset quality, and on the deterioration de·te·ri·o·ra·tion n. The process or condition of becoming worse. in its business profile that would result from the sale of its new business franchise to Tokio Marine Life. However, additional kikin funding, if provided, could mitigate mit·i·gate v. To moderate in force or intensity. mit  i·gation n. current concerns over Asahi Life's
financial profile.Standard & Poor's will assess the impact on the ratings of Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire as details on the nature and extent of the proposed support to Asahi Life become available. Notwithstanding yesterday's announcement, negative risk factors still dominate Asahi Life's credit risk profile and point to a further possible rating 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. , given the high uncertainty over its 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). scheme. RATINGS PLACED ON CREDITWATCH NEGATIVE Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Fincl strength rtg AA+ First Chicago Tokio Marine Financial Products Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. (HK) Ltd. Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. (UK) Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. (New Zealand Branch) Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. U.S. Branch Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Marine Global Re Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Marine Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Fincl strength rtg AA+ Tokio Millennium Re Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA+ Fincl strength rtg AA+ Nichido Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rtg AA Fincl strength rtg AA Nichido Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. (U.S. Branch) Fincl strength rtg AA RATINGS REMAINING ON CREDITWATCH NEGATIVE Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. Counterparty credit rtg BB- Financial strength rtg BB- |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion