On Feb. 5, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'AA-' long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Zurich-based global reinsurer Swiss Reinsurance Co. (Swiss Re) and its core affiliates on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placement comes in response to Swiss Re's disclosure that it incurred substantial additional asset write-downs during the fourth quarter of 2008, which will necessitate an increase in capital. Both the magnitude of the additional write-downs and the resulting need to raise capital are outside Standard&Poor's expectations. We expect to be able to resolve the CreditWatch within the next two weeks. In resolving the CreditWatch, we will focus on evaluating the impact we believe today's announcement will have on
