NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 29, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Allstate Corp.'s (NYSE:ALL) core property-liability (Allstate Protection) and life insurance (Allstate Financial) companies to 'AA-' from 'AA'. Standard&Poor's also said that it lowered its counterparty credit rating on Allstate to 'A-/A-2' from 'A+/A-1'. The outlook on all these companies is negative. "These rating actions reflect the significant deterioration in the operating companies' capital adequacy to the high end of the adequate range from strong," explained Standard&Poor's credit analyst Neil Stein. Capital adequacy and surplus at Allstate Protection is noticeably lower than in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, and is now
