S&P downgrades Generali rating to BBB+ from A- on Italy woes
Reprints
Standard & Poor's Corp. has downgraded Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. to BBB+ from A- after a downgrade of Italy's sovereign ratings.
S&P on Friday said it had lowered its insurer financial strength ratings on four Italian insurers after it downgraded its sovereign credit rating on Italy to BBB- from BBB on Dec. 5 because of weak growth prospects and high public debts, among other factors.
S&P said that, under its rating criteria, its rating on Trieste, Italy-based Generali is limited to two notches above the country rating.
The rating agency said Friday in a statement it believes Generali will continue to have material exposure to investments in Italy and has high sensitivity to Italian country risk because of its significant Italian life insurance business.
But the rating agency also said it believes Generali's regulatory solvency capital would remain positive in the event of an Italian sovereign default and that the company would mitigate pressure on its regulatory capital in a timely manner if Italy's creditworthiness were to deteriorate.
The other three insurers that were downgraded were Allianz S.p.A., which was downgraded to A- from A; and UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A. and Societa Cattolica di Assicurazioni S.p.A., both of which were downgraded to BBB- from BBB.
Read Next
-
Generali upbeat on outlook after 9-month results beat forecast
(Reuters) — Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. reported a better-than-expected 12.8% rise in operating profit for the first nine months of the year thanks to a solid performance on all fronts, and said it was on track for an increase for the year.
