NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 8, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Lincoln National Corp. (LNC; A-/Stable/A-2), Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., and Lincoln Life&Annuity Co. of NY (both AA-/Stable/--) are unaffected by the recently announced $747 million of goodwill impairment charges that the company took for fourth-quarter 2011 related to the its life insurance and media business. LNC's 2011 operating EBIT (which excludes non-operating charges and realized gains and losses) of approximately $1.8 billion was consistent with our expectation. In addition, the goodwill impairment charges have had an immaterial impact on the company's capital adequacy as indicated by our risk-based capital analysis because goodwill is a non-admitted asset under statutory accounting.
