Tokyo -- Standard & Poor's CreditWire 1/21/98 -- Standard & Poor's today assigned its double-'A'-minus counterparty credit rating and claims-paying ability rating to Japan-based ING Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (ING Life). The outlook for the counterparty rating is stable. The company is a unit of ING Financial Services International which, in turn, is one of four major operating groups of ING Group, a worldwide financial services organization based in Amsterdam. It has been operating in Japan since 1986, first as a branch of Nationale Nederlanden Life Rotterdam, ING's flagship life insurance company and, since 1995, as a separate corporate entity. The following are the major rating factors: -- Strategic importance to ING Group. Standard & Poor's believes that ING Group
