S&P Global Market Intelligence compiles ratings actions in the insurance space daily through 5 p.m. ET. Actions after 5 p.m. ET will be included in the following day's roundup.
Life and health
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the insurer financial strength ratings of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Co. Co. at AAA (Exceptionally Strong).
Fitch has also affirmed the companies' issuer default rating at AA+.
The rating outlook is stable.
The duo's ratings reflect their exceptionally strong capitalization, leading competitive position in the U.S. individual life insurance market and conservative liability profile, the rating agency said.
Fitch views the companies' successful distribution system, large and stable block of traditional life insurance and low expense structure relative to peers as key competitive advantages.
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Fitch has affirmed New York Life Insurance Co.'s insurer financial strength rating at AAA, its long-term issuer default rating at AA+ and its short-term issuer default rating at F1+.
The rating outlook is stable.
The ratings reflect New York Life's leading market position in the U.S. individual life insurance market, extremely strong capitalization and conservative operating profile, according to the rating agency.
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Fitch has affirmed Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America's insurer financial strength rating at AAA and issuer default rating at AA+.
It also affirmed TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co.'s insurer financial strength rating at AAA and Nuveen Finance LLC's issuer default rating at AA-.
The rating outlook is stable.
Fitch said the ratings were affirmed because the company's statutory surplus has continued to grow, investment losses are reasonable relative to expectations, capitalization continues to be extremely strong, and financial leverage remains within the tolerance for the rating level.
Additionally, there have been no adverse regulatory changes or changes in Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America's ownership structure, the agency said.
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S&P Global Ratings withdrew its BBB- long-term financial strength and issuer credit ratings on Voya Insurance and Annuity Co. at the request of the issuer.
Voya Financial Inc. on June 1 completed the sale of Voya Insurance and Annuity to Venerable HoldCo Inc.
The outlook on Voya Insurance and Annuity was developing at the time of withdrawal, which based on the potential for a positive or negative rating change depending on long-term capitalization, hedging strategy, risk management, and governance of the new entity.
Managed care
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Humana Inc.'s BBB+ issuer default ratings as well as A (Strong) insurer financial strength ratings assigned to the company's insurance subsidiaries.
The subsidiaries are Humana Insurance Co., Humana Medical Plan Inc., Humana Health Plan Inc., Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana Inc. and CarePlus Health Plans Inc.
The rating outlook is stable.
Fitch said Humana's ratings are supported by its solid business profile, financial performance, earnings, strong capitalization and leverage metrics.
Multiline
Moody's has downgraded the insurance financial strength ratings to A3 from A2 of Assurant Inc.'s property and casualty insurance operating subsidiaries, American Bankers Insurance Co. of Florida and American Security Insurance Co.
Moody's also downgraded the insurance financial strength ratings to Baa1 from A3 of Assurant's life insurance subsidiaries American Bankers Life Assurance Co. of Florida and Union Security Insurance Co.
The rating action follows Assurant's announcement that it has completed its acquisition of Warranty Group Inc. from TPG Capital Management LP for a total enterprise value of approximately $2.5 billion.
The outlook for the ratings is stable, which reflects the rating agency's expectation that the company will continue to perform well, particularly given a lower U.S. corporate tax rate under the new tax law.
The downgrade of Assurant's property and casualty units reflects the a meaningful increase in financial leverage and higher levels of goodwill and intangibles. Moody's estimates that consolidated financial leverage will increase to about 28%, up from 22.6% as of year-end 2017.
Moody's believes that the addition of The Warranty Group will extend the company's market presence in vehicle service contracts, enhance its geographic diversification and generate significant savings through expense synergies. However, the acquisition also carries significant integration and execution risks given the combination of two relatively complex organizations.
The rating agency said the downgrade of Assurant's life insurance units is consistent with the rating actions on the parent company, which provides one notch of implicit support to these companies. Moody's expects the life subsidiaries will continue to receive financial and capital support from Assurant if needed.
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A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of C++ (Marginal) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "b+" of Kazakhstan-based Standard Insurance Co. JSC.
The outlook remains stable.
At the same time, the rating agency has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in A.M. Best's rating process.
The ratings reflect the company's strong balance sheet strength, its marginal operating performance, very limited business profile and weak enterprise risk management, the agency said.
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A.M. Best has placed under review with developing implications the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "bbb" of Russia-based JSC Sogaz.
The rating actions follow the company's announcement on May 25 that it has entered into an agreement to acquire VTB Insurance Ltd.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to required approvals. The ratings will remain under review until the deal closes and A.M. Best completes its assessment of the impact of the acquisition on SOGAZ's rating fundamentals.
Property and casualty
A.M. Best has upgraded the financial strength rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating to "a" from "a-" for Western Life Assurance Co.
Additionally, A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "a+" of Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co.
The rating agency also has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "a" of Wawanesa Life Insurance Co.
The outlook of these ratings is stable, which reflects the adequate operating results driven by investment earnings that have generally offset underwriting losses and driven organic growth in policyholder surplus.
Furthermore, A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "a-" of Wawanesa General Insurance Co.
The outlook of those ratings is negative.
The ratings of Wawanesa General reflect balance sheet strength, but weak operating performance and a limited business profile. The ratings also consider the implicit and explicit support received from its ultimate parent, Wawanesa Mutual, given Wawanesa Mutual's role as the lead rating unit within the organization.
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S&P Global Ratings has raised its long-term issuer credit and senior unsecured debt ratings to BBB from BBB- on Enstar Group Ltd.
The outlook is stable, which reflects the rating agency's view that Enstar will maintain its capital adequacy redundant at the AAA confidence level, while sustaining its strong competitive position and operating performance consistent with its expectations.
The upgrade reflects Enstar's strong competitive position in the non-life runoff market, well supported by management's vast experience, deep industry knowledge, and excellent claims handling capabilities, S&P said.
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Fitch Ratings has affirmed its insurer financial strength rating at BBB with a positive outlook of Allianz SE's Russia-based unit JSC IC Allianz, or Allianz Russia.
The agency said the rating benefits from Allianz Russia's ownership by Allianz SE but is capped by Russia's country ceiling of BBB-.
Fitch views Allianz Russia as strategically important to Allianz SE based on the agency's insurance group rating methodology.
The positive outlook reflects that on Russia's sovereign long-term foreign currency issuer default rating of BBB-, the rating agency added.
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Moody's has affirmed the B3 corporate family rating and B3-PD probability of default rating of Acrisure LLC following the company's announcement of plans to issue a new $400 million senior secured term loan.
The rating outlook remains negative.
Acrisure's ratings reflect its growing market presence in US insurance brokerage, its good mix of business across property and casualty insurance and employee benefits, its healthy EBITDA margins and its well-developed acquisition strategy, Moody's said.
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S&P Global Ratings has assigned A+ long-term ratings to insurers QBE Blue Ocean Re Ltd. and QBE Europe nv/sa.
The outlooks on the insurers are stable.
The rating on QBE Blue Ocean reflects its role of providing integral reinsurance services to the QBE group and S&P expects the group to extend extraordinary support to the company if required.
Similarly, the rating on QBE Europe recognizes its central role and contribution to the group and the agency's expectation that the group would provide extraordinary support to the entity, if required.
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A.M. Best has withdrawn the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating (Long-Term ICR) of "a+" of Lloyd's Syndicate - 1225 (AEGIS Managing Agency Ltd.)
The ratings have been withdrawn following management's request to no longer participate in A.M. Best's rating process. A final rating opinion for Syndicate was not produced.
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, here and here.
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