Reinsurance News
Fitch Ratings news
News featuring rating agency Fitch Ratings, including the latest reports, rating actions and analysis from the company, as well as news on Fitch’s analysis of the reinsurance sector.
Fitch revises London market outlook to negative amid COVID-19 issues
24th March 2020
Fitch Ratings has revised its sector outlook for the underlying fundamentals of the London market insurance space to negative from stable, driven by growing concerns around the impacts and disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Fitch notes that the ongoing virus outbreak threatens the credit quality of London market insurers. While ... Read the full article
Fitch turns negative on global reinsurance, US P&C fundamentals
23rd March 2020
The unfolding Coronavirus outbreak has prompted Fitch Ratings to revise its outlook for the underlying fundamentals of the global reinsurance sector to negative from stable. The ratings agency also revised its outlook for the US property and casualty insurance sector, citing concerns over coronavirus and related impacts on the credit quality ... Read the full article
Coronavirus prompts Fitch to revise European life to negative
20th March 2020
Fitch Ratings has revised its rating outlooks for the life insurance sectors in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK to Negative from Stable; the Italian life insurance sector remains negative. This revision is due to increased risks stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and related impact on the credit quality of ... Read the full article
COVID-19 driven market disruption main threat to European reinsurers: Fitch
18th March 2020
Financial market disruption stemming from the spread of the coronavirus is the main threat to the credit profiles of European reinsurers, Fitch Ratings analysts say. Furthermore, downgrades could be on the horizon should earnings weaken and capital headroom erode as a result of prolonged stress on equity and credit markets and ... Read the full article
Fitch revises UK life insurance sector outlook to negative from stable
18th March 2020
The rapidly evolving coronavirus outbreak has led Fitch Ratings to revise its UK life insurance sector outlook to negative from stable. The move comes a day after the global financial services ratings agency turned negative on the US life insurance industry. Both revisions are a result of the widespread uncertainty ... Read the full article
Fitch revises Allstate’s rating outlook to stable from positive on coronavirus
18th March 2020
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the rating outlook for The Allstate Corporation and its core insurance subsidiaries to stable from positive, due to the significant uncertainty being caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has led to high levels of volatility in capital markets, which, has in turn driven ... Read the full article
Fitch turns negative on US life due to virus concerns
17th March 2020
Fitch Ratings has revised its rating outlook for the US life insurance industry from stable to negative, due to increased concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and its potential impacts on the credit quality of life insurers. Analysts explained that the outlook revision reflected greater uncertainties about disruptions in the financial markets, ... Read the full article
Fitch downgrades Prudential’s Jackson off IPO pursuit
16th March 2020
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of Jackson National Life Insurance Co. and Jackson National Life Insurance Co. of New York to 'A+' from 'AA-'. At the same time, Fitch downgraded its ratings on Jackson's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating to 'A' from 'A+'. The Rating Outlook is Negative. This ... Read the full article
Fitch puts Aon on negative watch, citing WTW merger concerns
12th March 2020
Rating agency Fitch has decided to place the ratings of re/insurance broker Aon on negative watch due to complexities surrounding its recently announced merger deal with Willis Towers Watson (WTW). Analysts said Aon’s ‘BBB+’ Issuer Default Rating (IDR) could be negatively affected by the significant deal size of its combination ... Read the full article
Rating agencies view Covéa takeover as beneficial for PartnerRe
5th March 2020
Rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have said that they view the recently confirmed acquisition of PartnerRe by Covéa as potentially beneficial for the Bermudian reinsurer. Fitch has placed PartnerRe’s ratings on Rating Watch Positive after the news emerged yesterday, while Moody’s affirmed its ratings and noted that PartnerRe would likely ... Read the full article
Coronavirus impact currently minimal for US P/C firms, says Fitch
2nd March 2020
Currently, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak is not expected to have a meaningful adverse impact on the financial results of U.S. property/casualty (P/C) companies, nor their ratings, according to Fitch. The financial services ratings agency has said that a combination of the nature of insured commercial exposures and restrictive language embedded in ... Read the full article
Storms Ciara & Dennis could push UK insurers to underwriting loss: Fitch
20th February 2020
Analysts at Fitch Ratings believe that costs from storms Ciara and Dennis will increase pressure on UK household insurers’ profitability in 2020, potentially pushing them to an underwriting loss. The storms brought strong winds, torrential rain and widespread flooding to the UK before moving across to other parts of Europe, with ... Read the full article
Life business a competitive boost for European reinsurers: Fitch
18th February 2020
Analysts at Fitch Ratings have said that the largest European reinsurers – Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re, and SCOR – benefit from a competitive advantage thanks to their leading positions in the life and health markets. Fitch noted that the life and health reinsurance market is characterised by an oligopolistic ... Read the full article
Coronavirus risk highest for mortality-focused US life insurers: Fitch
3rd February 2020
Life insurers with high exposure to mortality risk could face the most potential credit risk if the spread of the coronavirus in the US continues to accelerate, according to Fitch Ratings. However, the impact on life insurers would vary based on product mix, use of reinsurance and potential geographic concentrations, Fitch ... Read the full article
Bermuda re/insurers set for improved pricing trends in 2020: Fitch
27th January 2020
Bermuda re/insurers are likely to see continued price firming in 2020, with surplus growth and modest gains in underwriting profits driven by organic growth opportunities and solid capital levels, according to Fitch Ratings. The rating agency noted that the market’s financial performance has recently been supported by higher unrealised investment gains ... Read the full article
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