Standard & Poor’s Affirms Platinum Ratings
Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its ‘A’ counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Platinum Underwriters Reinsurance Inc. and Platinum Underwriters Bermuda Ltd. S&P also affirmed its ‘BBB+’ counterparty credit rating on Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. The outlook on all of these ratings remains stable.
The announcement said “Platinum incurred $248 million of losses from catastrophes in the first quarter of 2011. While the losses from the Tohoku earthquake in Japan [$87 million] appeared to be lower relative to what would be expected from a company of Platinum’s size, the losses from the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand [$137 million] were somewhat higher than what would be expected.”
S&P also explained that “as the group continues to shift its business mix toward the property and catastrophe lines of business and away from the casualty lines of business, we believe that its earnings and capital volatility will be higher than it has been historically–resembling more closely the profile of a property-catastrophe reinsurer.”
S&P also indicated that it would “consider taking a negative rating action if Platinum’s operating performance is substantially lower than our expectations, its capital adequacy is lower than expected, loss reserves develop adversely, or a significant deterioration in the company’s liquidity position occurs.”
