NOTE: On April 07, 2016, the press release was corrected as follows: In the debt list, the ratings for issuers ACE Fianzas Monterrey and Chubb de Mexico Compania
Afianzadora were changed to Baa1/Aa1.mx. Revised release follows.
Mexico, April 04, 2016 -- Moody's de México (Moody's) affirmed the global local currency
(GLC) and national scale (NS) insurance financial strength (IFS) ratings
of 16 insurance companies in Mexico. The outlook of 14 insurers
remains stable, whereas the outlook of two insurers was changed
to stable from positive. In the same rating action, Moody's
maintained the review for downgrade of MBIA Mexico's rating.
Please see a complete list of companies and ratings/outlooks below.
This portfolio-wide rating action on the Mexican insurers follows
Moody's Investors Service's outlook change to negative on Mexico's
local-currency and foreign-currency A3 sovereign bond ratings
on 31 March 2016. (See press release titled "Moody's changes Mexico's
outlook to negative from stable; affirms A3 rating").
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's said that the stable outlook on 16 Mexican insurers reflects that,
even though most insurers' investment exposure to the sovereign is significant,
their financial strength ratings are well positioned. Moreover,
a potential downgrade of the Mexican sovereign bond rating is not likely
to put downward pressure on the insurers' credit profile.
Moody's notes that Mexican insurers' broadly benefit from very modest
reliance on debt funding and financing and their liquidity positions are
relatively strong, given good premium revenue streams and the relative
lack of credit-sensitivity of insurance premiums broadly.
The insurers also benefit from their profitability and from the internal
capital generation that derives from insurance underwriting, as
well as investment activities. These considerations broadly support
rating stability of the sector.
The following 14 insurers' GLC and NS IFS ratings were affirmed.
Their outlooks remain stable:
- Afianzadora Aserta: Baa2/Aa2.mx
- Afianzadora Insurgentes: Baa2/Aa2.mx
- Afianzadora Punto Aserta: Baa2/Aa2.mx
- Aseguradora Patrimonial Daños.: Ba1/A1.mx
- Aserta Seguros Vida: Ba1/A1.mx
- Chubb de México Compañía de Seguros:
Baa1/Aa1.mx
- Coface Seguro de Crédito México: Baa1/Aa1.mx
- Dentegra Seguros Dentales: Baa3/Aa3.mx
- Plan Seguro: Baa3/Aa3.mx
- Primero Fianzas: Baa1/Aa1.mx
- Prudential Seguros México: Baa2/Aa2.mx
- Royal and Sun Alliance Seguros: Baa3/Aa3.mx
- Seguros Azteca Daños: Ba1/Aa3.mx
- Seguros Azteca: Ba1/Aa3.mx
The following insurers' IFS ratings have been affirmed, with outlooks
revised to stable, from positive:
- ACE Fianzas Monterrey: Baa1/Aa1.mx
- Chubb de México Compañía Afianzadora:
Baa1/Aa1.mx
The rationale for the shift to a stable outlook for ACE Fianzas Monterrey
and Chubb de México Compañía Afianzadora reflects
that the positive trend observed in their credit profiles relative to
other Baa1 credits is more than offset by the recent negative outlook
on the Mexican sovereign, given the companies' direct investment
exposure to sovereign and local assets, as well as their particular
sensitivity to the economic cycle and other macroeconomic/financial trends
in the country.
MBIA México:
MBIA México's ratings are under review for downgrade given
that MBIA Mexico's ratings are based primarily on the explicit and implicit
support provided by MBIA Insurance Corporation (MBIA Corp.,
B3 IFS, review for downgrade). As such, MBIA Mexico's
ratings are expected to remain closely linked to its parent.
Among the factors that could lead to a rating downgrade for the 16 above
mentioned insurers are: 1) a multi-notch downgrade of the
Mexican sovereign bond rating; 2) deterioration of the country's
operating environment; and 3) impairment in companies' asset
quality, profitability or capital adequacy. Conversely,
factors that could lead to an upgrade include improved capital adequacy
and profitability metrics for insurers, as well as an improvement
in Mexico's operating environment and/or sovereign bond's
rating.
In the case of MBIA Mexico, Moody's said that its ratings could
be downgraded if developments related to the Zohar transactions diminish
MBIA Corp.'s capital adequacy position and result in the further
stress on the company's liquidity profile. Given the company's
ratings are under review for downgrade, an upgrade is unlikely.
However, MBIA Mexico's ratings could be upgraded if MBIA Corp's
liquidity position improved materially or the outcome of the Zohar I bankruptcy
proceedings point to a more favorable outcome for MBIA Corp.
The sources and items of information used to determine the ratings include
September 2015 financial statements (source: Comisión Nacional
de Seguros y Fianzas (CNSF)) and year-end 2014 audited financial
statements (sources: audited financial statements provided by the
companies).
The period of time covered in the financial information used to determine
the ratings is between 31 December 2011 and 30 September 2015 (source:
CNSF and insurance companies).
The principal methodology used in rating ACE Fianzas Monterrey,
S.A., Afianzadora Aserta, S.A.
de C.V., Afianzadora Insurgentes, S.A.
de C.V., Afianzadora Punto Aserta, S.
A., Aseguradora Patrimonial Danos, S.A.,
Chubb de México, Compañía Afianzadora,
S.A. de C.V., Chubb de México
Compañía de Seguros, S.A. de C.V.,
Dentegra Seguros Dentales, S. A., Plan Seguro,
S.A. de C.V., Co. de Seguros,
Primero Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Seguros
Azteca Danos, S.A. de C.V., Royal
& Sun Alliance Seguros (México), S.A. de
C.V. was Global Property and Casualty Insurers published
in December 2015. The principal methodology used in rating Aserta
Seguros Vida, S.A. de C.V., Prudential
Seguros Mexico, S.A., and Seguros Azteca,
S.A de C.V. was Global Life Insurers published in
December 2015. The principal methodology used in rating Coface
Seguro de Credito Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
was Global Trade Credit Insurers published in December 2015. The
principal methodology used in rating MBIA Mexico, S.A.
de C.V. was Financial Guarantors published in January 2015.
Please see the Ratings Methodologies page on www.moodys.com.mx
for a copy of these methodologies.
Moody's insurance financial strength ratings are opinions of the ability
of insurance companies to pay punctually senior policyholder claims and
obligations. For more information, visit our website at www.moodys.com.mx
Moody's National Scale Credit Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative
measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country,
enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks.
NSRs differ from Moody's global scale credit ratings in that they are
not globally comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities,
but only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the
same country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn" country modifier
signifying the relevant country, as in ".za" for South Africa.
For further information on Moody's approach to national scale credit ratings,
please refer to Moody's Credit rating Methodology published in June 2014
entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings".
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Information sources used to prepare the ratings are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, public information, confidential
and proprietary Moody's information.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entities prior to public
dissemination.
A general listing of the sources of information used in the rating process,
and the structure and voting process for the rating committees responsible
for the assignment and monitoring of ratings can be found in the Disclosure
tab in www.moodys.com.mx.
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Dentegra Seguros Dentales,
S. A. was Dec/18/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of ACE Fianzas Monterrey,
S.A. was Jan/20/2016
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Afianzadora Aserta,
S.A. de C.V. was Apr/1/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Afianzadora Insurgentes,
S.A. de C.V. was Apr/1/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Afianzadora Punto Aserta,
S. A. was Apr/1/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Aseguradora Patrimonial Danos,
S.A. was Dec/10/2014
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Aserta Seguros Vida,
S.A. de C.V. was Dec/10/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Chubb de Mexico Compania
de Seguros, SA de CV was Jan/20/2016
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Chubb de Mexico, Comp
Afianzadora SA de CV was Jan/20/2016
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Coface Seguro de Credito
Mexico, S.A. de C.V. was May/11/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of MBIA Mexico, S.A.
de C.V. was Jan/20/2016
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Plan Seguro, S.A.
de C.V., Co. de Seguros was Dec/28/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Primero Fianzas S.A.
de C.V. was Mar/23/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Prudential Seguros Mexico,
S.A. was Dec/22/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Royal and SunAlliance Seguros,
S.A. de C.V. was Sep/10/2015
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Seguros Azteca Danos,
S.A. de C.V. was Nov/24/2014
The date of the last Credit Rating Action of Seguros Azteca, S.A
de C.V. was Nov/24/2014
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.mx.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
This Rating is subject to upgrade or downgrade based on future changes
in the financial condition of the Issuer/Security, and said modifications
will be made without Moody's de México S.A. de C.V
accepting any liability as a result.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the ratings tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com.mx,
for each of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the
lead analyst and the Moody's legal entity that has issued the ratings.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated entity,
obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not an auditor
and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information
received in the rating process.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on www.moodys.com.mx
for further information on the meaning of each rating category and the
definition of default and recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com.mx
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is the most
reliable and accurate based on the information that is available to it.
Please see our website www.moodys.com.mx for further
information.
Please see www.moodys.com.mx for any updates on changes
to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
The ratings issued by Moody's de Mexico are opinions regarding the credit
quality of securities and/or their issuers and not a recommendation to
invest in any such security and/or issuer.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com.mx
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Francisco Uriostegui
Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Marc R. Pinto, CFA
MD - Managed Investments
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Moody's affirms most Mexican insurers' ratings with stable outlooks following sovereign outlook change to negative
