Actions follow completion of ACE/Chubb combination on January 14.
New York, January 20, 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the insurance financial strengths
(IFS) ratings of Chubb de Chile Compañía de Seguros Generales
S.A. (Chubb de Chile: Baa1 global) and Chubb de Colombia
Compañía de Seguros S.A. (Chubb de Colombia:
A3 global, Aaa.co national scale). At the same time,
Moody's is continuing the IFS rating reviews for downgrade of ACE
Seguradora (Baa2 global, Aaa.br national scale) and of Chubb
do Brasil Companhia de Seguros (Chubb do Brasil: Baa2 global,
Aaa.br national scale). These rating actions follow the
completion of the ACE and Chubb combination, as announced on 14
January 2016 by Switzerland-based Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB,
formerly named ACE Limited). See complete list of the four companies
and their ratings below.
Moody's also took actions on 15 January on various other entities
of the combined group. The details are available on Moody's
website at the following address:
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-aligns-ratings-following-ACEChubb-combination-senior-at-A3-stable--PR_342383
Moody's will comment separately about the ratings on Chubb's
subsidiaries in Argentina and Mexico.
RATINGS RATIONALE
According to Moody's, the IFS rating affirmations for Chubb
de Chile and Chubb de Colombia reflect Moody's view that these operations'
fundamental business and financial underpinnings, as well as parental
support, will remain intact under the newly combined Chubb Limited.
The continuing reviews for downgrade of Chubb do Brasil and ACE Seguradora
reflect the ongoing review for downgrade of the Brazilian sovereign debt
rating (Baa3).
Moody's expects that any potential future changes to the group's
organizational structure (e.g. potential mergers among subsidiaries
within a given country, in order to achieve enhanced operational
efficiencies) will largely preserve existing parental support characteristics
and will not meaningfully change the aggregate credit profiles of the
subsidiaries. However, in case of any material modification
of the combined group's strategy towards its Latin American subsidiaries
in the future (e.g. exiting a specific country), Moody's
will assess its impact on the specific subsidiaries' credit profiles.
Currently, the ratings of all four of these Chubb subsidiaries in
Latin America receive some uplift from their stand-alone credit
profiles due to the ownership and support of Chubb.
Moody's emphasized that the credit profiles of Chubb's subsidiaries
throughout the region are meaningfully influenced by the country-specific
sovereign credit profiles and insurance operating environments,
which remain key considerations and reasons for the different IFS ratings
among the newly-combined Chubb Group entities.
Among factors that could result in an upgrade of Chubb's subsidiaries
in Chile and Colombia, Moody's noted an upgrade of the countries'
sovereign bond ratings and/or an improvement in the countries' insurance
operating environments, as well as an upgrade of, or stronger
explicit support from, Chubb (via ACE INA Holdings, Inc.)
or its principal US/Bermuda subsidiaries, and/or improvement in
the companies' business profile and financial metrics. The
ratings of the two Brazilian subsidiaries could be confirmed in the event
of a confirmation of Brazil's sovereign ratings.
Conversely, a downgrade of the countries' government bond
ratings, deterioration in their operating environments, reduction
of implicit/explicit parental support or a sale of the companies,
or downgrade of Chubb (via ACE INA Holdings, Inc.) or its
principal US/Bermuda operating subsidiaries, and/or deterioration
in the companies' business diversification and financial metrics
towards the entities could result in a downgrade for the companies'
ratings.
The IFS ratings of the following insurers have been affirmed, with
stable outlooks:
- Chubb de Chile: Baa1 global;
- Chubb de Colombia: A3 global, Aaa.co national
scale.
The ratings of the following insurers remain on review for downgrade:
- ACE Seguradora: Baa2 global, Aaa.br national
scale;
- Chubb do Brasil: Baa2 global, Aaa.br national
scale.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Property and
Casualty Insurers published in December 2015. Please see the Credit
Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
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
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.
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.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the ratings tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com,
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.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Diego Kashiwakura
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's America Latina Ltda.
Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551
16th Floor, Room 1601
Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903
Brazil
JOURNALISTS: 800-891-2518
SUBSCRIBERS: 55-11-3043-7300
Robert Riegel
MD - Insurance
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's affirms Chubb and ACE insurance ratings in Colombia and Chile; continues reviews in Brazil