PARIS (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 3, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'A' long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Italy-based composite insurer Società Cattolica di Assicurazione (Cattolica). The outlook is stable. "The ratings on Cattolica reflect the group's strong competitive position, strong operating performance, and strong capitalization," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Antonello Aquino. Cattolica maintains a low risk profile given its primary exposure to retail customers and benefits from a sound bancassurance strategy and well-recognized agency force for the distribution of life and property/casualty (P/C) products, respectively. Furthermore capitalization is strong, backed by a conservative balance sheet and relatively low weight of soft capital. These positive factors are partially offset
