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| S&P Rates Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance (Asia) 'AA+' |
SINGAPORE, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's today assigned its
double-'A'-plus insurer financial strength rating to Yasuda Fire & Marine
Insurance Co. (Asia) Pte. Ltd. (Yasuda Asia).
The rating reflects Yasuda Asia's strategic importance to parent Yasuda
Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. (Yasuda Fire, double-'A'-plus/Negative/--),
and explicit support from Yasuda Fire in the form of a net worth maintenance
agreement.
Major rating factors:
-- Supportive parent group. Yasuda Fire's commitment to Yasuda Asia is
evidenced through explicit and implicit support, including a strong balance
sheet, and a high level of operational integration. Yasuda Asia plays an
important role in south Asia, servicing the local operations of the parent
group's clients and providing underwriting control and reinsurance support to
other Yasuda subsidiaries in the region.
-- Satisfactory business profile. Although small in absolute terms, Yasuda
Asia has a strong share of Japanese company business in Singapore. The growth
of its non-Singapore business, that is, business "reinsured" from other Yasuda
group subsidiaries and affiliates in south-Asia, is also very good.
Furthermore, while Singapore is a competitive and low-growth market, Yasuda
Asia has only a low level of participation in poorly performing segments. Good
growth is evident within existing Singapore and overseas clients, and is
expected to continue in the next three years.
-- Strong operating performance. The average combined ratio over the past
five years has been a very good 92.7%, although it was disrupted by
disappointing performances in 1995 and 1997 as a result of some large
international claims. Underwriting and overall earnings are expected to
improve moderately, with most of the improvement coming from better
underwriting control of overseas business, although earnings pressure may
arise from increased use of brokers in the Singapore market.
-- Excellent financial profile. Yasuda Asia exhibits very strong
capitalization and very high asset quality (86% cash). Reserves appear solid
and higher than those of its peers.
Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (Asia) Pte. Ltd. is a Security Circle
insurer, which means that it voluntarily underwent Standard & Poor's most
comprehensive analysis and was assigned a rating in one of the top-four
categories for financial security. -- CreditWire
SOURCE Standard & Poor's CreditWire
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CONTACT:
Melissa Mackey, Singapore +65-239-6340, or
Ayako Nakajima, Tokyo, +81-3-3593-8591, both of Standard & Poor's
Ratings Services
