S&P Revises IOR's Financial Strength Rating to 'R'.Business Editors MELBOURNE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's July 26, 2002--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Ratings Service A company, such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's, that rates various debt and preferred stock issues for safety of payment of principal, interest, or dividends. said today it has revised its public information financial strength rating on I.O.R. Australia Pty. Ltd. (IOR IOR Indian Ocean Region IOR Improved Oil Recovery IOR Interoperable Object Reference IOR Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli (Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Italy) IoR Institute of Refrigeration (UK) ) to 'R' (regulatory action) from double-'Bpi' following the appointment of an administrator by the regulator, Private Health Insurance Administration Council (PHIAC PHIAC Private Health Insurance Administration Council ). A 'pi' subscript (1) In word processing and scientific notation, a digit or symbol that appears below the line; for example, H2O, the symbol for water. Contrast with superscript. (2) In programming, a method for referencing data in a table. indicates the rating is based solely on information in the public domain. IOR was Standard & Poor's lowest-rated Australian private health fund. Its former double-'Bpi' rating denoted "marginal financial security characteristics" and was within Standard & Poor's "vulnerable" rating range. The appointment of an administrator was taken pursuant to PHIAC's early intervention ear·ly intervention n. Abbr. EI A process of assessment and therapy provided to children, especially those younger than age 6, to facilitate normal cognitive and emotional development and to prevent developmental disability or delay. , following a breach in IOR solvency levels to new capital standards. PHIAC has stated that IOR's members can be confident that their health-fund memberships and all services they were insured for will be honored in full. IOR's difficulties stemmed from rapid growth in membership (spurred through third-party originators) and inadequate pricing of risk, coupled with an escalation of claims costs-an industry-wide phenomenon. Standard & Poor's outlook for the Australia health insurance sector is negative, reflecting substantial claim escalation (due to expiry of waiting periods and no-gap coverage), volatile investment markets, and subdued sub·due tr.v. sub·dued, sub·du·ing, sub·dues 1. To conquer and subjugate; vanquish. See Synonyms at defeat. 2. To quiet or bring under control by physical force or persuasion; make tractable. 3. growth prospects following very strong growth in 2000 and 2001. Standard & Poor's Australian Health Insurance Report 2002, released in May, highlighted that 2002 would prove to be a difficult year for health insurers following the abnormal profits In economics supernormal profit, also called economic rent, abnormal profit or pure profit or excess profits, is a profit exceeding the normal profit. of 2001. The Australian private health insurance sector is a fragmented industry with many participants and has significant scope for consolidation. Although capital in the sector has strengthened in recent years and is deemed adequate, it varies significantly across industry participants. The Australian Health Insurance Report 2002 can be found on RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system. The report can also be found on Standard & Poor's Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Go to Resource Center, then select Industry Research. Copyright 2002, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services |
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