NU Online News Service, April 8, 2003, 6:32 p.m. EDT – U.S. rating agencies have lowered the insurance financial strength ratings of the main insurance units of two large Dutch financial services companies one notch.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, New York, cut the insurance ratings of the main European and North American insurance operating units of AEGON N.V., The Hague, Netherlands, to AA, from AA plus.
Moody’s Investors Service, New York, reduced the insurance ratings of the main Dutch and U.S. insurance operating units of ING Groep N.V., Amsterdam, to Aa3, from Aa2.
S&P emphasizes in the release announcing the AEGON rating cut that AEGON still has very strong positions in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.