LONDON (Standard & Poor's) Sept. 21, 2001--Standard & Poor's today lowered its financial strength and counterparty ratings on R+V Versicherung AG (RVV) to single-'A'-plus from double-'A'-minus. At the same time, the ratings on RVV were removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Feb. 19, 2001. The outlook is negative. At the same time, the 'pi' rating on R + V Allgemeine Versicherung AG (RVA) was lowered to single-'A'-plus-pi from double-'A'-minus-pi. The rating action is based on the change of ownership structure, whereby RVV is now 78% owned by the lower rated, newly established DZ Bank Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftsbank AG (hereafter DZ Bank, A/Negative/A-1), which is Germany's cooperative banking sector's largest central bank. It also reflects Standard &
