On Nov. 18, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its Turkish national scale rating on Istanbul-based Milli Reasurans T.A.S. (Milli Re) to 'trA' from 'trA+'. The downgrade follows the recent outlook revision on the Republic of Turkey (foreign currency, BB-/Negative/B; local currency, BB/Negative/B) and the subsequent rating actions on Milli Re's parent, Türkiye Is Bankasi A.S. (Isbank). Outlooks on the Isbank foreign and local currency counterparty credit ratings were revised to negative from stable, and the long-term Turkish national scale rating was lowered to 'trA' from 'trA+'. The national scale rating on Milli Re reflects the company's marginal quality of investments (from a global perspective) and concentration in the Turkish market, which exacerbates the potential impact of earthquake-exposure modeling
