Standard & Poor’s has lowered the insurer financial strength and counterparty credit ratings on Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Australia, R&SA Insurance New Zealand, R&SA Liability Insurance and R&SA Accident Insurance to A from A+. The ratings action follows the same downgrade of the ratings on its UK parent (see International News).

S&P’s emphasised the point by revising the outlooks on all the ratings to “negative”. However, the strength of the stand-alone underlying financial and business profile of the operating subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand remain unchanged.