MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 23, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it had affirmed its 'AA-' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance Pty Ltd. (Genworth Australia). The outlook remains stable. The affirmation reflects Standard&Poor's view that the downgrade of the rating on Genworth Australia's partial reinsurer, Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. (GMIC) to BBB-/Negative/— from BBB+/Watch Neg/— on Dec. 22, 2009, is tolerated under Genworth Australia's existing rating. The A/Stable/— ratings on Genworth's life insurance businesses are unaffected. In our press release of Feb. 27, 2009, we said that Genworth Australia could be rated up to four notches higher than GMIC. While we acknowledged some contagion with GMIC and the wider group,
