S&P Revises P&C Insurer Outlook

S&P Global Ratings has revised its outlook for the property and casualty insurance sector. The report — issued early last week — says the revision will be from stable to negative.

The reasons — the report notes — come from “expected weaker credit trends over the next 12 months.” It goes on to say some — but not all — insurers will soon see “negative revisions to the ratings or outlooks.”

Getting more specific, spokesman, John Iten said S&P found rising interest rates have caused drops in the market value of P&C insurers and the fixed income part of their portfolios. A decline in the value of equity holdings, losses from natural disasters and personal auto underwriting results that are deteriorating, have also pushed the change.

Iten said S&P will soon “make negative revisions to the ratings or outlooks of those insurers whose capitalization has fallen materially below our expectations and whose projected earnings and capital management options, in our view, will be insufficient to rebuild capitalization to a level consistent with our current ratings over the next 24-36 months.”