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S&P assigns ratings to Great Eastern Holdings units

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S&P assigns ratings to Great Eastern Holdings units

S&P Global Ratings assigned its AA- long-term foreign currency issuer credit rating to Great Eastern Life Assurance Co. Ltd. and Great Eastern General Insurance Ltd., with a stable outlook.

It also affirmed at AA- the Singapore-based insurers' local currency long-term financial strength and issuer credit ratings, according to a March 9 report.

The ratings reflect the companies' core status as units of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. and as such are aligned with OCBC's group credit profile. The bank owns 87.9% of Great Eastern Holdings Ltd., of which Great Eastern Life Assurance and Great Eastern General Insurance are key entities.

The stable outlook marks S&P's expectation that the Great Eastern group will over the next 24 months maintain its "very strong" competitive position, capital and earnings, as well as excellent branding strength.

The rating agency added it could lower the insurers' ratings if it downgrades OCBC. It could also downgrade Great Eastern General Insurance if it believes the insurer is no longer key to the parent group's strategy, among other things.

Conversely, the ratings of both insurers could rise if S&P upgrades OCBC, with the Great Eastern group maintaining its core status to the bank.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings. The original S&P Global Ratings documents referred to in this news brief can be found here.