The ratings agency anticipates a year of relative stability, saying upgrades are as unlikely as downgrades.
Prospects for rating upgrades for clubs already in the ‘A’ range are constrained by comparison, with significantly larger and more diversified insurers operating in wider markets, such as Aviva, Lloyd’s of London, RSA and Mapfre.
Although S&P sees the International Group structure as a strength, it warned: “We would, however, be unlikely to rate what remain essentially monoline marine specialists, writing a relatively small number of discrete risks, higher than reasonably capitalised giant international multiliners, regardless of the clubs’ capital strength.”
And
