Standard & Poor’s cites Winterthur integration and excellent ERM in rating decision
Standard & Poor's has raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on the core subsidiaries of AXA to 'AA' from 'AA-'.
The move reflects the successful integration so far of the Winterthur group, continuous improvement of business fundamentals, and excellent enterprise risk management (ERM).
At the same time, the long-term counterparty credit ratings on holding companies AXA and AXA Financial Inc. were raised to 'A+' from 'A' and the long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Winterthur Swiss Insurance Co. were upgraded to 'AA' from 'A+' on its new core status to AXA group.
"The upgrade takes into account that the integration of Winterthur has had no significant negative impact on AXA's financial strength and is likely to proceed smoothly," said credit analyst Laura Santori.
“We expect AXA to maintain its competitive position by fully leveraging the Winterthur acquisition
Credit analyst Laura Santori
"We expect AXA to maintain its competitive position by fully leveraging the Winterthur acquisition and to keep operating performance at very strong levels," she added.
Operating performance is set to be sustained by excellent ERM and process improvements set out in the Ambition 2012 plan--particularly in P/C, where S&P expects the CR to be maintained below 100%.
Although the very strong capitalization leaves the group some margin for pursuing its external growth strategy, S&P does not expect capitalization to fall below the 'AA' level.
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