NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 9, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its 'BBB' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.'s (FFH) ongoing operating insurance companies (collectively, Fairfax). Standard&Poor's also affirmed its 'BB' counterparty credit ratings on FFH and Crum&Forster Holdings Corp. The outlook on these ratings has been revised to positive from stable. "The positive outlook is due to FFH and its operating companies having shown substantial improvement in almost all of the major rating factors, and this is expected to continue," explained Standard&Poor's credit analyst Damien Magarelli. The ratings are based on improving competitive position, strong consolidated capitalization (even after adjustments for finite
