Moody's has placed the ratings of Zurich Financial Services Group on review for a possible downgrade following the announcement of its 2002 results.
Announcing its review, Moody's said the following ratings would be reviewed:
Moody's said that its review was prompted by Zurich's
weakened earnings and capital position.
The ratings agency added that Zurich's $3.5bn (£2.2bn) "special provisions" in its results, which included charges for reserve strengthening and operational improvement, "offset underlying improvements in some operating businesses."
In addition, Zurich's property and casualty operations had benefited from the current hard market conditions, it said. Its 2002 results revealed that its non-life combined ratio, before special provisions, improved by 5.6% to 103.6%.
