{"id":11924,"date":"2012-06-28T12:01:13","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T10:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/text-fitch-afrms-liberty-group-limiteds-ifs-at-aazaf\/"},"modified":"2012-06-28T12:01:13","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T10:01:13","slug":"text-fitch-afrms-liberty-group-limiteds-ifs-at-aazaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/text-fitch-afrms-liberty-group-limiteds-ifs-at-aazaf\/","title":{"rendered":"TEXT-Fitch afrms Liberty Group Limited’s IFS at ‘AA(zaf)’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

June 28 – Fitch Ratings has affirmed South Africa-based Liberty Group Limited’s
\n(LGL) National Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating at ‘AA(zaf)’ and National Long-term
\nrating at ‘AA-(zaf)’. The Outlooks are Stable. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed LGL’s
\nsubordinated debt issue rating at ‘A+(zaf)’.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

LGL’s ratings continue to be supported by its well established franchise, enhanced risk
\nmanagement, sound capital position and its solid operating performance. In addition, Fitch
\nconsiders LGL’s strong and diversified distribution capability and successful bancassurance
\njoint venture with the Standard Bank group as key positive rating factors. Offsetting these key
\nrating drivers is some earnings volatility stemming from the group’s exposure to investment
\nmarkets, which is in line with peers, and the continued tough South African economic
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The group reported a solid performance with headline earnings up 3% at ZAR2,597m (2010:
\nZAR2,522m) with the return on embedded value for the South African covered business improving to
\n13.9% (2010: 12.6%). Earnings were supported by strong performances from the core South African
\ninsurance and asset management businesses. New life business margin on a present value of new
\nbusiness premiums basis strengthened to 1.4% in 2011 (2010: 1.2%) driven mainly by the improved
\nwithdrawal experience in the core South African insurance business. Fitch expects the margin to
\ncontinue to improve towards the group’s medium-term target of 2.0%.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

LGL and the group had regulatory capital adequacy requirement (CAR) cover ratios of 2.9x and
\n2.4x, respectively at end-2011. Fitch considers Liberty to be well-capitalised based on its own
\nrisk adjusted assessment and on its regulatory CAR cover ratios. LGL does have some sensitivity
\nto equity market volatility, but it is in line with leading peers. Fitch expects Liberty to
\nmaintain its strong capital position.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Fitch considers an upgrade as unlikely in the near term, the key rating drivers
\nthat could result in an upgrade in the medium term include continued improvement in
\nprofitability relative to higher rated peers, an improvement in life new business margin towards
\nthe group’s medium-term target of 2.0%, continued growth in new business volumes, sustained
\ncapitalisation at strong levels as well as continued maintenance of market share.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The key rating triggers that could result in a downgrade include sustained poor operating
\nperformance driven by lower new business margins, a significant and sustained reduction in the
\ngroup’s capitalisation based on Fitch’s own assessment or a drop in LGL’s regulatory CAR cover
\nratio to below 1.7x, and a weakening in the company’s market position.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(The following statement was released by the rating agency) June 28 – Fitch Ratings has affirmed South Africa-based Liberty Group Limited’s (LGL) National Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating at ‘AA(zaf)’ and National Long-term rating at ‘AA-(zaf)’. The Outlooks are Stable. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed LGL’s subordinated debt issue rating at ‘A+(zaf)’. LGL’s ratings continue to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}